Champion Of The Shinigami
by drakas3000
Summary: Lets see, Naruto become the champion of the shinigami (hence the name) fights two protect, has two personalities/aspects - gets with Tsume inuzuka. MAY be a little fast paced, like, going from one mood to another, read the 'intro' chapter. Rock on! AUTHORS NOTE! if you are getting shitty with the story, then skip the first 5 chapters (they're important, but the most poorly written)
1. 00 - intro

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Hi Everyone and welcome to Champion of The Shinigami, my first Naruto fanfic.

To summarise it generally:

Naruto will have, not two _personalities_, but, two diffirent aspects to him, a dark/evilly righteous half, and a good half, he controls himself at all times, but compartmentalises his mind.

He will get with Tsume – and no this will NOT be a harme story, im cool if it's just lemons and Naruto gets with them all, but this has got an actual storyline, not 'it's a hot day – and everyone's horny!'.

To spoil it a _bit_, he does die, but gets sent back as the 'Champion of Ths Shinigami', hence the name.

There will be heaps of sasuke, sakura, sakuno (sakura's mum), and assorted other deuschbags bashing

Also! The first chapter will be when Naruto's nine, the second will give back story on Naruto and whats been going on, and the third will be continuing on from the first – Yeah! How do you like them apples!

Side note! Due to me wanting Tsume to be younger, Kakashi, Asuma anko and them, will be 7 years older than Naruto,and for those who are "but wait, minato was kakashi's sensei!" well, Itachi was jonin by 9, so they can be genin by 7. Because im awesome!

Just think of Naruto and his age group as 'x'

Itachi, Hana = x + 3

Kakashi, Anko, asuma ect = x+7

And Tsume is x + 21

Sorry about the algebra!

NOTE! THIS WILL PROBALBY TAKE A WHILE TO INTEREST YOU!


	2. 01 - Night Haunter

**Alright, first chapter:  
Naruto is 8 and Tsume is 28**

**And no, I don't own Naruto or its affiliates, or most of the stuff said in this fic, well, some things, like noodle cup, not ramen though (damn, I needa buy some of that)**

**Remember! This is a rather dark fic! Children turn away**

"Damn council! Wasting our time over another trivial matter, taxes and that purely idiotic notion that there are too many Shinobi! What the fuck! This is a damn ninja village! And that Naruto was causing havoc! These people drive him out of the streets and try to kill him! If anyone's a demon, it's the villagers who do these things! What do you think Kuromaru?" asked Tsume Inuzuka to her canine companion.

"I agree comple- Tsume! Look out!" but it was too late. She reached up to her neck where she felt a pinprick, only to have her whole body go unresponsive, Kuromaru growled and was about to attack their assailant before he was knocked out by a vicious blow to his skull,

"What do we have here? The fierce Tsume Inuzuka, with her legs spread, just waiting for any man to pass by like the whore she is?" the assailant asked sardonically, lifting her to him whilst groping up and down her body.

"My my, not even a peep? So the Inuzuka women are easy to tame bitches are they? Well, I can't take all of the credit, it was my dear sister Sakuno (Sakura's mum, remember that) who gave me this special poison. Ingenious really, the body is unresponsive, and yet every nerve is still alive, so that means I can fuck you all I want – and you can't do a thing about it!" his malicious laugh chilled Tsume to her core, and brought tears to her eyes, Setsuna (Sakuno's fictional brother) Haruno was going to rape her! He then began licking her neck and sniffing her hair,

"Oh how I've wanted to dominate you for years, and after I've had my way with you, I think I'll take your daughter next, she's what? 12? 13? No matter, a little bit of this drug and it won't matter, then of course, I'll have to kill you and her" he added as afterthought, almost to himself as much as her.

"But how rude of me, to keep babbling, on to the main course" he whispered devilishly. He grabbed a kunai off of her belt and ripped down her shirt, exposing her breasts which he proceeded to grope, then started cutting away her shorts, exposing her underwear.

"Mmmmhhh, these are a good set of tits on you, and this pussy! Even after two kids it's still tight!"

_"Please! Anyone's who's watching from above or below, help me!"_ Tsume prayed, as it turned out, someone did help, from below.

"Unhand Ms. Inuzuka and I'll make your death quick, though you deserve a slow one" a light voice spoke, with joy and mirth – though of a sadistic kind. A figure could be seen against the moon on top of a nearby building with full black ANBU body armour, a beaked ANBU body mask with a crow and ghastly looking frayed cape and a demonic companion beside them.

"Are you supposed to be this bitch's knight in shining armour? How about you fuck off pipsqueak, unless, I don't suppose you want to join me in fucking this slut?" Setsuna replied, with a sickening smile on his face. _"Pipsqueak? Well, I did ask" _the macabre hero thought before letting out a bone-chilling laugh, he patted his demonic companion on the head.

"Vengeance, have a bite to eat." He removed his hand from the beasts head, and at lightning speed it lunged directly at Setsuna, rending his left arm off of his body and tackling his body back to the ground, 7 metres away. Tsumes tears turned from ones of fear to ones of joy, then to ones of horror, _"h-his hand….."_ the speed at which Vengeance speared Setsuna was so great, that his whole left arm was sheared off, but at such a great speed that it stayed on Tsumes neck, and in its last dying moments was still twitching and moving to phantom nerves. Tsumes saviour turned towards her and began slowly advancing towards her, stretching out his hand to her. As he did this, light from a nearby lamp caught him, and his ghastly figure was revealed to her: though his ANBU clothes and armour may have started out black, they were stained a deep red that was so great that it was almost black itself, and his cape. She thought it was a badly kept one that frayed over time, but instead of frayed, _"that's…. h-human skin…. He's wearing someone's skin…. As clothes….get away! Don't kill me please!" _ He leaned down to her and spoke softly, and in contrast to his earlier insane voice, he spoke with a soft, husky, almost deep voice that instantly calmed her:

"Ssshhh, it's okay, nothing more shall happen to you this night; I promise you this, my lady." Were it under different circumstances, she would have blushed, he then told her to close her eyes, she obeyed hesitantly to which he reasoned: "please, no one must see my face, not yet" she could hear the sorrow in his voice, one that was almost familiar. He reached to the bottom right of his mask with his left hand and removed it (if you've seen Bleach, think visoring and un-visoring) bit into his wrist, let a little blood go into her mouth and told her to drink; he said that it will remove the drug from her system. She reopened her eyes to see that deathly crow mask, and head a blood-curdling scream come from Setsuna, the sadistic ring came back to her savours voice and he spoke:

"I'd like to take you home, give me a minute to finish my business… actually; you don't need to see this." He picked up a nearby torn sheet, placed it over her and rolled her onto her side and walked to Setsuna, placing a video camera (AN: if they've got voice comms, then they can have videos!) on a stand next to him and pressed _record_.

"Setsuna Haruno. You are under arrest for the high crimes of: attempted rape – two counts, Tsume Inuzuka and Hana Inuzuka, attempted murder – two counts, Tsume Inuzuka and Hana Inuzuka, molestation – one count, Tsume Inuzuka, attempted paedophilia – one count, Hana Inuzuka. How do you plead?" He asked seriously, but with that sadistic undertone. By this point, Setsuna was going deathly pale, and was close to death – due to the lack of an arm and being mauled by a demon-fox. The saviour stepped in front of the camera and spoke to it in an insane/joking tone;

"Well, it appears that our friend here is dead, that's no good! What will the viewers at home think? Hahahahahahahahahaa! **Shinigami Art: Judge of Death!**" he then pointed at Setsuna – who took in a lungful of air as though he just escaped from drowning, then looked at his arm and where he was, and promptly resumed his blood curdling screams.

"You sick fuck! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh-" the saviour clamped his hand over Setsuna's mouth

"My God! No wonder the Haruno's are called the howling banshee's! I almost have sympathy for the council, just think: what would it be like arguing politics with one of these?" he removed his hand and pointed at Setsuna, who was still screaming, and re-clamped his pie hole.

"You know what? You don't need to talk for the remainder of your life, so I'll just….take….that…. there we go." He grabbed a kunai from his belt and cut into Setsuna's neck, removing his vocal cords.

"Hmmm, now you can't talk… I know!" He then grabbed the man's neck and ran chakra through his hand.

"You are in the Shinigami's courtroom, and are in the presence of the Judge of Death – that's me – and so you must answer truthfully – how do you plead to the aforementioned crimes?" then in an almost monotone voice:

"Guilty, to all charges." Beneath his mask the saviour smiled,

"See? How much better does it feel that you've gotten it off of your chest? It's as though you could withstand an arm being cut off! Hahahahahahahahaha! My apologies, I have very dry humour. But, the show must go on; the punishment for you crimes is death. However, since you did this to someone precious to me, the punishment is much worse – I'm going to flay you alive, then give your soul to the Shinigami, now you should feel honoured, because not many get to see the Shinigami, big honour, that is." And so for the next ten minutes he began to systematically flay Setsuna, stripping all seven layers of flesh from muscle – during the whole process, Setsuna was crying tears of blood. Eventually the flayer was finished his gruesome job and did several hand seals.

"**Shinigami Art: Soul Rend!**" at this point a purple beast with white hair and a tanto between its teeth (AN: I've kind of forgotten what it looks like, but being Naruto fans, you'll have hopefully seen that episode) rose from the ground and was visible to all. The flayer bowed low and courteously towards his master;

"**Who summons me from my realm? Aahhh, it is you, good friend. Finally going to give me your soul?**" the deep bassy voice chuckled, as did the flayer.

"Not yet, I request that you consign this pathetic excuse for a life form to the black pit." The Shinigami raised an eyebrow

"**Oh? What could have this one done to deserve the Black Pit? Besides, as a personal request for a soul transfer, it must be denied.**" The Shinigami replied, almost apologetically. The flayer adopted a thinking pose and paced back and forth, becoming back and forth.

"Well for one, he hurt someone precious to me…" The Shinigami laid eyes upon Tsume,

"**Ahhh yes, the Inuzuka woman, surely she's a bit old for you?**" this caused the flayer to burn up under his mask, he then pointed towards the camera;

"Shinigami, too much is being said. How about, you take his soul to the Black Pit, in return for a favour, upon my word. That way, it's not a personal request, but a business transaction." The flayer was becoming frustrated now, the Shinigami noticed this and wanted to prevent it, whilst his servant didn't cause him fear – which nothing does now – he was one of the few beings in existence that could harm the Shinigami.

"**Very well, I shall take his soul to the Black Pit, in exchange for a favour, at any time I may ask for it.**" They both nodded and the Shinigami reached into Setsuna's body and pulled out a glowing orb – Setsuna's soul. His business done, the Shinigami returned to his realm, and the flayer to his camera.

"Well, people of Konoha, and people of the fire country." His voice went to dead seriousness here,

"If you commit a crime, you will be punished, those who don't commit crimes and will not, have nothing to fear. I am the Judge of Death, I am Night Haunter, I go bump in you night, I am become death." He switched off the camera, sealed it into a scroll and what he saw chilled him to his core, Tsume Inuzuka was there, looking at him, and she saw everything that happened.

- 11 Minutes earlier: -

Tsume just drank the liquid and opened her eyes to see the black ones of her saviour's staring back and head a blood-curdling scream come from Setsuna, the sadistic ring came back to her savours voice and he spoke:

"I'd like to take you home, give me a minute to finish my business… actually; you don't need to see this." He picked up a nearby torn sheet, placed it over her and rolled her onto her side. _"H-he's not going to hurt me?"_ relief flooded her system, as did feeling, she went to walk away – saviour or not, he was psychotic – until she heard him talking, _"why would he be talking to that rotten piece of shit?"_ the fact that he didn't just kill Setsuna annoyed her a bit and so went to have a look.

- Enter Shinigami + flaying scene -Present time:

"T-Tsume… i-i…. I didn't mean…. For you to see that…" she was utterly confused, _"why was he apologising? Sure, it was a gruesome scene, and I think I'll be sick, but I can hear the grief in his voice"_ she could then see something rolling from underneath his mask, _"are those tears?"_

"Please, Tsume, I…I… please forgive me….please….imso sorry…. Im sorry Tsume…." She was actually felling a little bit guilty _"I brought this on? What did I do, more importantly: who is this Night Haunter?"_ as he walked up to her she felt no fear this time, and actually took in his appearance, take away the macabre armour and clothes, and it would have been… a child? All fear at that point had been overridden by her motherly instincts and cradled him in her arms, blood and all.

"Ssshhh, it's okay little pup, I should be thanking you, you saved me and my daughter from being raped and killed. Thank you, but, please tell me, who are you? You must still be a child, no more than eight or nine years old and-"at this point he drew himself out of her grasp and stood back. By this point Kuromaru came to his senses and saw someone drawing away from his master, another attacker! Tsume saw him bunch his muscles and prepare to attack and quickly shouted:

"Kuromaru stop! He saved me." Kuromaru drew back at once, this pup saved his master? And that scent… it was-

"Kuromaru, don't tell her, she will find out soon enough." Night Haunter told him. This shocked Kuromaru, what happened to the young pup that he couldn't tell Tsume who he was? But he respected his wish and bowed his head. Vengeance came back into sight and nudged her masters' leg. Night Haunter quickly grabbed Kuromaru and Tsume and shunshined to the Inuzuka compound.

"I still have work to do, good night, and once again, I truly am sorry." He nodded to them both and began to walk away before spinning on his heel, grabbing Tsumes hand and pulling it to his lips, what would have been a kiss were he not wearing the mask. A quick 'My lady' later and he was on a nearby roof top with Vengeance at his side, leaving a thoroughly confused – and blushing – Tsume Inuzuka.

So, how did I do? Too much gore? Too many changes of pace? PLEASE PM me!

Thank you for reading.


	3. 02 - Reborn In Darkness

**How we doing everyone? Welcome to the second instalment of 'Champion of the Shinigami'**

**And no, sadly I don't own Naruto, its characters, nor most of the crap I babble on about in my story, enjoy!**

Recap: Night Haunter (our macabre protagonist) has rescued Tsume, flayed a guy, we saw a little bit of the Shinigami, and yeah. If you didn't read the intro/summary chapter, this chapter is about how he became who he is and just gives a lot of background.

Naruto, Night Haunter, Kiba, Sasuke – THEIR AGE LEVEL = 5

Lee, Tenten, Neji + age level = 6

Tsume =26

"E-Excuse me…." A small timid voice floated up to Tsume at the counter, she wondered who would be calling in at the vet at, what was the time? 11pm? She must have dozed off.

"Who is it? We're closing up and-" she looked down to see two deep cerulean eyes, topped by spiky gold hair, a face that screamed innocence.

"Ummm, ma'am…" the small boy started, Tsume noticed that she was staring, then looked at his hands, he was holding a small crow that had obvious chakra burns on one of its wings.

"Oh, sorry about that, I'm getting a bit tired, now then. Let's look at you friend." The boy placed the crow tenderly into her waiting hands, she did a healing jutsu with practised ease, and a few minutes later, she handed him the crow back, with a small bandage placed on its arm.

"Here you go! Good as new." She smiled and laughed when it pecked the side of his head, and then settled on his shoulder, and then realised;

"How rude of me! I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Tsume Inuzuka, and you are?" She was a little confused when he seemed apprehensive at giving her his name. He mumbled something under his breath,

"I'm sorry? I couldn't quite catch that"

"My name… is Naruto Uzumaki…" he nearly sighed his name, awaiting a beating or to get thrown out of the vet. It dawned on her why he was scared of her, he was so accustomed to being beaten and treated badly by adults.

"That's a nice name, and I want you to know that you're welcome at the Inuzuka vet anytime!" Naruto couldn't believe his luck! He had a friend fixed, met a nice woman – not to mention pretty – and she just welcomed him with open arms into their vet! So of course he was going to be a _little _bit sceptical.

"You-you really mean it?" he asked hesitantly.

"Of course I do, and here's a seed cake for your friend, heel eat it when he's hungry, and don't forget to water him." She smiled at the boy, _"though it may not be human" _she though, _"he still made a friend, and me of course!"_

"Thank you Tsume! I'll see you around!" he shouted as he sped out of the door. She thought about the little ball of energy, yawned, and then thought of bed.

The next few weeks went by pretty much the same, every few days Naruto would come across a wounded animal in the forest and bring it back to the vet, after a while he met Tsumes son and daughter, Kiba and Hana, who got along easily with Naruto, once they overcame the initial shyness phase, that is.

One day, Naruto came in with a fox cub (AN: im not sure what a baby fox is called, so im calling it a cub, 'cause it's awesome) who they treated for several cuts and a broken leg. Tsume and Naruto both noticed that it would growl and nip at anyone who wasn't Naruto.

"Well I've seen it before, and I've seen it again, I don't know how you do it, but all animals seem to love you, even Kuromaru here" she said as she stroked his back. Naruto then looked at Tsume quizzically;

"Love? What's that?" he asked her, and shocked her. Then she remembered that he didn't have a family or anyone – except for the Hokage and the three Inuzuka's – for his whole life, so she tried explaining it to him:

"It's, I don't know how to put it, for humans towards other humans, it's… a special feeling, your heart beats faster when your around them, you want to make them smile, you'd do anything for them, and you'd die protecting them. It's a hard thing to explain Naruto, but if you're lucky, one day you'll find that special someone… crap! I'm late for a council meeting, seeya round Naruto!" she called, not noticing that Naruto couldn't meet her gaze. As he walked out of the vet, he thought to himself contentedly. _"That day has already been for me, Tsume, I already know who I love, and I'd die protecting you, I give you my word on that."_

Things were going pretty smoothly until October, they would usually only throw things at Naruto or refuse him entry into stores, but when it neared October 10th, there were fierce beatings which led up to the crescendo of October 10, the night the Kyuubi attacked, the night it was sealed into Naruto.

He was running back to his apartment after a visit to Tsume and the Inuzuka's, he knew he shouldn't have been out today, but he wanted to see her. He heard the angry footfalls of the villagers behind him;

"There's the demon child! Get him!" they all shouted insults and curses at him until they caught up to him.

"Look at that, the demon's tamed a crow and…. It's a fox! Kill them all, the demon is finally getting out!" With tears in his eyes, the villagers beat Naruto until he let go of his two friends, who valiantly tried to defend him by nipping hands and pecking at their eyes, however, they were both very young and weak – a villager grabbed his crow and squeezed it's body until it burst, another snuck up behind the fox and slit it's throat.

"Y-you c-can't do this….. their just animals….." Naruto wept at them, this only furthered their rage.

"WE CAN'T DO THIS! YOU LITTLE DEMON, YOU KILLED MY FAMILY IN THAT ATTACK!" All villagers shouted something along those lines, of course, Naruto had no idea what they were talking about – he'd never killed anyone, and they….. they killed his friends, no…. they can't get away with this! A red haze slowly enveloped Naruto, his wounds healed, and his fangs and claws grew. One of the ANBU who was 'protecting' Naruto noticed this and placed a chakra seal on his back, the red haze immediately dissipated.

"Now demon, we've had enough of you terrorizing our village, so you're going to die tonight!" One of the ANBU got a few of the villagers to hold Naruto still and grabbed his sword off of his back.

"You'll kill no one else, demon!" and slashed diagonally from left shoulder to right hip, a fatal wound, even with the Kyuubi's regenerative powers. Before succumbing to death, he heard one last thing:

"We'll have to kill the Inuzuka bitch as well, the demon must have charmed her!" as the ANBU said this, some of the male villagers had a sickening glint in their eye, all had the same thought: _"if we're going to kill the Inuzuka bitch… why don't we have a little fun first?"_ as Naruto's life faded away, he could have sworn he heard:

"**Shinigami Art: Meet The Reaper**"

-2 minutes earlier-

As Itachi Uchiha did his patrol around the village, he felt a sudden but small demonic chakra spike (AN: sure it is the Kyuubi's chakra, but Naruto's only 5, it wouldn't be _that_ strong – yet) and rushed to investigate. He arrived just in time to see Naruto sliced and hear about what they were going to do to Tsume. As they sped off towards the vet, Itachi was about to turn away when he saw something out of the corner of his eye, Naruto was starting to get up! He shunshined over there to check his vitals – there was no pulse! He was dead! But he heard him mumbling something.

"Tsume….mus…t….save…Tsume….love…her…..gave….my word….protect….before d…ie" Itachi then had a flashback to when he first met Naruto:

- one year and a prank earlier -

_"Aw c'mon Mr. Weasel ANBU! Those merchants deserved it; they were being mean to a little girl! I had to get them back!" a small blonde child told Itachi._

_"Should you not have told the authorities? Maybe the Hokage even? Instead of taking this into your own hands?" although I do find stink bombs amusing, thought Itachi._

_"But all they'll do is fine them! A few ryo later and they'd be doing the same thing! This way they'll actually lose something! Sure it's only a day or two of business… but that's better than nothing!" he quickly added._

_"Hhhhmmm, what to do? I could hand you over to the merchant…" this brought a scared look to Naruto's face,_

_"…oooorrrrr, you could talk to the Hokage about this, tell him what happened AND that you stink bombed them." Naruto couldn't believe his luck!_

_"BUT, you have to give me your word that you will go straight to the Hokage, no detours, okay?" Naruto was puzzled at this, a word?_

_"What do you mean, 'my word', do I have a phrase or something?" Naruto asked seriously, which caused Itachi to chuckle light-heartedly._

_"No, your word is your everything, if you put your word above your life, then you will live a good life, if your word means nothing to you, then you will have a terrible life and no one will believe you, a ninja never goes back on his word, you DO want to be a ninja, don't you?" Of course Itachi had heard of Naruto's boasts about becoming the world's greatest ninja, he just needed to tell him this life lesson, and convince him into it._

_"Of course I do! Alright Mr ANBU, I give you my word that I will go straight to the Hokage! I'll put my word above my life! Believe it!" _(AN: c'mon, I HAD to) _Itachi smiled at this._

_"Alright then little one, I have to go now. Remember, you gave me your word, goodbye" and he shunshined away. He later found out that Naruto had gone directly to the Hokage._

- Present time -

_"He's being kept alive because of his word? And… he loves Tsume? You are an interesting one; however, you mustn't die…. I know"_ Itachi thought. He then did a few hand signs;

"**Shinigami Art: Meet The Reaper!**" the world around slowed to a halt, and the Shinigami appeared from below.

"**Harbinger? Why do you summon me? Who is this child near death…. No, what's going on, Harbinger?**" Itachi fell to a knee and bowed his head.

"I apologise my lord, I have summoned you here this day to induct another into your services and to give his life back, this is Naruto Uzumaki, I request that his life be given back, and he is given the post of Judge Of Death." The Shinigami was shocked at this, his Harbinger Of Death wanted to make this whelp into his Judge Of Death?

"**What has he done to be awarded that position? Even from the merest glance of his soul, I know he hasn't killed…. Why are you doing this?**" he questioned. Itachi put a finger to his head and showed the Shinigami some of his memories.

"My lord, he has proven himself worthy of this position, even without killing, he walks only because of his word, he stands for the innocent and down-trodden, even more so because he is one of them. Please, my lord. If you need further convincing, look into his soul." The Shinigami did so and was highly confused.

"**The fact that he has not lashed out against his oppressors is astounding, and he has a demon residing within… one thing I can see however, the demon has tainted his soul, no, it has CHANGED it, very well Harbinger. Naruto Uzumaki shall become my judge of death, he has passed. I expect you shall teach him our ways, I shall give him the summoning scroll when he comes of age. But for now, let us speak with him in the presence of the demon.**" At this point, the Shinigami reached into Naruto's body and had a hold of his soul and held out his hand to Itachi. Itachi grabbed the Shinigami's hand. They were instantly transported into Naruto's mindscape. It looked like a flooded sewer. The Shinigami and Itachi walked until they came to the central chamber, it had a large set of bars to one side with the kanji for 'seal' on it, within, they could see the nine-tailed fox. It bowed its head low in respect for the Shinigami.

"**Shinigami, to what do I owe the pleasure?**" the fox asked – though he may respect the Shinigami, he was still a fox. The Shinigami's reply was something that shocked the fox.

"**I am letting you out Kyuubi; this child is becoming my Judge**." There had to be some catch, the fox was a master trickster, and so he just KNEW there was a catch.

"**And the price is?**" the fox asked.

"**You will leave behind you healing powers and chakra levels, but, you will be under my protection, hence confined to, my realm for the next 1000 years… now, where is the child?**" The fox pointed behind them, and they saw Naruto weeping in the corner of the chamber, he saw them and ran over to them.

"Mr. ANBU? What are you doing here? That doesn't matter, I need to get out of here, I have to save Tsume!" he was nearly crying at this point, knowing that at the moment he couldn't save anyone. Itachi smiled reassuringly at him.

"You mean the one you love?" This got a shocked reaction from Naruto, who then looked at the floor and nodded.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, I love someone too. But don't worry, all time has stopped little one, we are in your mind. I'll let you talk to my friend here, and then we can go and save Tsume, okay?" Naruto was quick to agree, if it meant saving Tsume, who cares what he had to do!

"**Well then Naruto, I am the Shinigami, I am death. You're… Mr. ANBU… brought me to you, he is the Harbinger of Death, for you to live, you must become the Judge of Death. Although the Harbinger is my greatest warrior and kills in my name, it is the Judge of Death that is my champion, simply put; you are the Shinigami on earth. We will train you to be unstoppable, we will train you to kill, protect, fight and save. Although it is already done, you ARE the Judge of Death, I would like to know, do you want this?**" Naruto was shocked; they would help him protect people?

"I don't enjoy killing… but if it's to protect, then yes, I accept." The Shinigami actually smiled at this.

"**It shall be done, but, although you don't enjoy killing, in your current state, you probably CAN'T kill. I was going to remove the fox anyway, he has corrupted part of your soul, I shall slice you soul in two. One good, one evil. You won't have a split personality; the other half will help you to cope with the killing. Now, our time is almost up, since this group will be your first set of kills, we shall help you through it, now, bow before me so that I may complete your process.**" Naruto bowed before the Shinigami, who placed a hand on his head and transferred the knowledge of the Judge of Death to Naruto, which caused him to black out. The Shinigami turned to the fox.

"**I shall see you in my realm soon Kyuubi, however, if either Itachi or I used our death chakra to expand our time here, it would be felt for miles around, could you lend a hand?**" the fox laughed.

"**Well, seeing as how I'll be your guest for the next millennia, I suppose I could help out.**" The fox's red chakra poured off of him in waves, then sunk into the Shinigami's realm.

- Konoha – not Naruto's mindscape - -

Naruto awoke to find the Shinigami and Itachi standing over him with a puzzled look on his face, until the past events crashed on him, he knew what he was now, the Judge of Death.

"Tsume! We have to save her! What's going on?" he was about to run off when he saw that the mob was right in front of him, not moving, he then noticed that everything had a slight bluish tinge to it, and wasn't moving. It was Itachi who told him.

"Because of the jutsu I used, time has stopped, until I say otherwise… what's wrong?" he then noticed that Naruto was looking incredibly sad, Naruto pointed to the two mangled corpses of his crow and fox.

"T-they were my two oldest friends…. And they killed them!" he shouted at the mob. The Shinigami looked at them and a small grin tugged at his face.

"**A crow and a fox? It's like the two halves of your personality Naruto, however, I think I can help here**." He then outstretched both hands, one at each of the animals, and they seemed to come back to life! Ribs and organs un-cracking and going back to where they were, the foxes throat sealed back together – which left a scar not unlike the one on Naruto's chest – they were alive! The fox ran up Naruto's body and perched on his left shoulder, whilst the crow flew to his right, happily pecked at his head and settled on his shoulder.

"**Naruto, may I ask what their names are?**" Naruto looked at the Shinigami then back at the animals.

"I never really named them actually… I always thought the more I made something mine, the more the villagers would want to take it from me…" the Shinigami grew angry at this, not at Naruto but at the villagers.

"**How dare they! Not even allowing a master his animals!... I have an idea… give them normal names, but give them each an additional name, for your Judge half, so that when you change, they will change as well.**" Naruto liked this, if he could battle, why couldn't his animals!

"Hhhmmmm, I think I'll name the crow…. Dante/Misery, because of the misery they gave me when they killed him, and the fox, I'll name her….Louise/Vengeance, because of the vengeance we shall show them." Itachi was a little surprised at the fox's name.

"Louise, isn't that a bit… I don't know, _ordinary_?" Naruto smiled at this.

"In an ancient language, it meant famous warrior, she'll have a fierce reputation by the time we die." The Shinigami was enjoying the reunion, but knew that they had business to attend to.

"**Naruto, Harbinger, we must be going, my time here grows short, and I have to be with you for your first kill**." Naruto nodded at Itachi who released his jutsu, the villagers were still shouting and cursing until they noticed the three figures who seemed to materialised out of nowhere in front of them.

"Who are you people? It's the demon! But, we-we just killed you!" the villagers were starting to get scared and so turned around, only to find a pool of blood, but no dead demon! Naruto smiled at this, and started bringing the evil part of his soul to the surface.

"For the past five years you have beaten me, cursed me, called me demon, and on this night, you finally killed me! On this night, I will turn into the demon you have so proclaimed me!" from instinctual knowledge, which was actually the knowledge of all of the past Judges of Death, he reached to the top right of his face with his right hand, and pulled it to his bottom left. (AN: for those who have seen bleach, visoring and un-visoring) As he did this a bone white mask appeared that was styled as a crow's beaked face with two black eyes. When the mask settled on his face, dark shadows surrounded him, when they dissipated they could really see a demon. Gone was the orange jumpsuit, in its place was a pitch black robe, in his right hand he held a demonic red scythe with several blades underneath the scythe, and on the end of the staff/handle was a spine (AN: look up Trinity Blood Scythe, mine was a crappy description) and finally, from his back sprouted two black feathery wings. As he spoke, his voice turned slightly demonic, but with sadistic undertones.

"**I am the Judge Of Death, I am your demon. Before you pray, before you die, remember that you brought this on yourselves.**" He then slashed his way through the mob of 50 with wild, furious abandon, determined to kill those who seek harm onto others. His last victim was a female who was begging on her hands and knees.

"P-please… please don't kill me…. I'll do anything…. Please don't kill me!" Naruto looked upon this woman with nothing but contempt;

"**I begged for my life, and was killed… the same shall happen to you, no more, no less.**" He was a little hesitant killing a woman, but all hesitation was gone when she spat at him and called him a demon, he brought his scythe down upon her and split her in two, her two halves joining the rest of the massacred bodies and limbs that surrounded the area. Naruto un-visored himself and began to sway, Itachi saw this and caught him. The Shinigami then spoke:

"**You have done well with this one, Harbinger. Judge, I suggest not visoring up unless in a life or death situation, only summon your scythe or mask if the situation calls for it. With a few years of training, you will make a fine champion. Good Night.**" The Shinigami sunk to his realm whilst Itachi shunshined to Naruto's apartment and placed him on his bed, immediately passing out.

"Sleep well young Judge, for you and I have a lot of work to do."

-So how did I do? Did I take too long? Regardless, chapter 3 is carrying on from chapter one, and will probably involve a time skip. Until next time!


	4. 03 - An Admirer

**WELCOME BACK everyone! To the third chapter of "Champion Of The Shinigami"**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Bleach, Trinity Blood, or any other things like that.**

**Recap:** we know that Naruto's Night Haunter – If you didn't, you're a little slow -, he's got a thing for Tsume, he died and was brought back to life by Itachi and the Shinigami. And other little tidbits of information. At the moment, he's just saved Tsume, kissed her hand through his mask and has jumped onto a nearby building.

Naruto & Kiba's age group's age = 9

Kakashi, Kurenai + co = 16

Tsume=30

"But wait! Who are you?" called Tsume to Night Haunter, which made him pause.

"It is as I said, I am the Night Haunter, but I will not haunt _your_ night, to you…." _well, if im wearing the mask_… "…. I am an admirer, under the mask that is. But, please, I understand your situation, but don't act out against Sakuno, leave her to me." And he shunshined off into the night.

"An admirer? A psychopath admirers me? And don't go after her? He wanted to have me raped!" this soliloquy cause Kuromaru to bark out a laugh,

"Tsume, he did say _under_ the mask, but I reckon you should respect his wishes, he did save you after all."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was having a _really_ bad day. First off, he was awoken by a blood curdling scream; Setsuna Haruno was found flayed in his sister's house, Sakuno – who was known around Konoha as the 'Queen of the Howler Monkeys' – so there was a council meeting called because along with his body she found a scroll that said _Dear Hokage and council_. Inside was a video that has a gruesome character known as the 'Night Haunter' flaying Setsuna Haruno, which unsettled even the famous God of Shinobi, the third Hokage – most of the civilian council fainted and puked. When Sarutobi questioned Tsume Inuzuka about it, she said that she had no idea, and that she was still waiting for the effects of Setsuna's drug to wear off (mind you, she left out what he said after the video, only that he took her home) however, one there was one good thing about it, Sakuno Haruno was passed out, and so didn't hear what was said about her brother. _I didn't need the howler monkey screeching this early in the morning_ thought the third Hokage.

"We must do something about this Sarutobi!" said Danzo, one of the council members and the head of the ROOT ANBU, a splinter faction of ANBU.

"We need to capture this maniac before anything like this happens again!" As Danzo said this he also thought: _we need him captured so I can recruit him to ROOT, he summoned the Shinigami!_

"Psychopath or not, he save me from getting raped and killed! Besides, you heard what he said; those who don't commit crimes have nothing to fear!" argued Tsume Inuzuka, most of the other clan heads agreed with her. Several of the civilian council who had regained consciousness argued against this profusely – after all, most of them were criminals, half of them _wanted _the Inuzuka bitch dealt with.

"SILENCE!" The third Hokage roared.

"I will get a squad of ANBU to hunt down this Night Haunter character, if that is all, this meeting is adjourned." As the council filtered out, he called over to Tsume, telling her to meet him in his office. When she arrived there she signed for him to remove the hidden ANBU and put up a silencing tag. When the ANBU left, she told him the rest of what happened, omitting the part about Kuromaru knowing who it is.

"Lord Hokage, should I be worried that he…_ admires_ me?" she asked as she looked down. The Hokage laughed,

"Not at all, at least it means that you won't be one of his victims." As he said this his gaze darkened, "and I think I know who it is, too." This greatly shocked Tsume

"You know who it is Lord Hokage?! Please, you must tell me!" Tsume pleaded.

"No, you will find out, much sooner than you thought, you are dismissed."

"But, Lord Hokage!" His then set a gaze on her that said _don't argue_, she sighed and then shunshined out of there.

- Elsewhere in Konoha -

"Get him Akamaru!" Kiba Inuzuka shouted to his best friend and dog partner, Akamaru. Naruto dodged Akamaru when he was in his Man/beast form and countered, kicking him in the ribs and sending him into a tree and threw some kunai at Kiba.

"Gonna have to do better than that Kiba!" Naruto shouted, as they then closed into a fierce taijutsu battle that raged for the better part of an hour. They both fell over panting and started laughing at each other, this way the way that most of the afternoons finished for these two friends.

"How did you get so strong Naruto? I know we've only been training for a year now, but it can't have been from our sparring, so how'd ya do it?" Kiba asked, which made Naruto, he hadn't told anyone that he was the Judge Of Death, least of all the Inuzuka's, they might hate him!

"Oh, you know…. I just practice a lot, most of the time, if im not eating at Itchiraku's or sleeping, im usually training, and I've naturally got a lot of stamina too, but I can't do half of the Inuzuka things, so you easily beat me there." Kiba smiled, he knew Naruto was hiding something but let it go, it was always like him too, to find something good that someone else can do and compliment them on it.

"Oh well, let's get out of here, if I'm not back before lunch, my mum will kill me! You coming?" he would have wanted to come, but after last night…

"I'd like to, but I need to see someone, I'll see you around Kiba!"

"See ya Naruto!"

Naruto was jumping from tree to tree through the forest of death looking for his sensei, hoping that he wouldn't be doing ANBU work. He found him in the forest upside down on a tree, meditating.

"ANBU-sensei, do you think we could do some training? I was wondering if I could find out my elemental affinity?" Itachi smiled at this, it would be a good going away present.

"That would be good, yes. And then I have something to tell you, but first." He produced a small black piece of paper and handed it to Naruto.

"This is chakra paper, channel some chakra into it and it will do something depending on what affinity you have, by default, because of your death chakra, half of it will do nothing, but; if it gets damp, water. If it smokes, fire. If it crumbles, earth. If it slices, wing and if it crumples then it is lightning." Naruto channelled chakra into it, half did nothing, as predicted, but the other half crumpled and then crumbled – lightning and earth

"Wow! I've got two ANBU-sensei! Lightning and earth! That's so cool!" Itachi smiled and handed Naruto two scrolls from a pouch on his back, one had the kanji for earth, and one had the kanji for lightning.

"Here you go Naruto; both of these scrolls have 4 jutsu each on them. It will be up to you to learn them." This confused Naruto.

"But, ANBU-sensei… won't I need help?"

"Naruto, you mastered Shinigami jutsu with very little help from me, you will have no problem with them, just use you shadow clones." This caused Naruto to smile, the shadow clone jutsu was the first one he ever learnt, and has proved to be the most helpful one by far.

"Thank you ANBU-sensei."

"Naruto, we've known each other for 4 years, I believe it's time you know who I really am." Naruto gasped, he would really know who ANBU-sensei was, he reached up to his face and undid the chakra clasps and pulled it away from his face.

"My real name is Itachi Uchiha; this is my last day as your sensei." Naruto was sad, he would no longer have a sensei, but he could finally look upon him and see his real eyes.

"Well, I knew this day would come, I just didn't think it would be so soon… what will I do now?" Itachi smiled at him.

"What you do now is up to you, you have a long life ahead of you, but there are a few things I must tell you, and there are a few requests I must make." He spoke seriously and Naruto nodded for him to continue.

"I have been given a mission to eliminate the Uchiha clan; I refuse to kill my younger brother, Sasuke though. For the past few years, he feels that he must surpass me, I know this to be impossible but he doesn't – I would like you to observe him for a few years and see how he reacts, if he puts the massacre behind him, tell him of me, if he gets consumed by revenge, I ask that you kill him." This shocked Naruto; Itachi wanted Naruto to kill his younger brother?

"At your request, I shall, if he becomes corrupt, though I hope he doesn't." Itachi smiled warmly at Naruto.

"You definitely haven't changed, never killing unless necessary, you'll make for an interesting ninja. Now, how old do I look to you?" It was then that Naruto took in Itachi's appearance; he only looked to be a few years older than Naruto himself!

"Only about 12? How are you in the ANBU at 12?"

"I am actually 20" Naruto's face hung agape.

"Well, yes, technically, I _am_ 12, but when a Harbinger Of Death holds his title for 4 years, he goes to the Shinigami realm – and trains for 8 years." Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing, 8 years of training!

"When the Judge Of Death hold his title for 8 years he is taken then to the Shinigami realm to train for 15 years." He let the message sink in….

"But, fifteen years…. That's…" Itachi read his mind

"Fifteen years away from Tsume? This actually helps your situation, although you love her, even if she loves you back – 21 years is a big gap." This cut Naruto deep, and tears started to fall from his eyes.

"I knew I could never be with her, love is a stupid feeling, it distracts you and strings you along, then stabs you in the heart-"

"I wasn't finished Naruto, you are given the choice at the end of your training to keep your age, or go back to what you were when you went to the Shinigami's realm. I chose to stay 6 and age from there; it would have caused a rather unexplainable situation otherwise, wouldn't it?" Itachi wiped away Naruto's tears.

"I have two last requests, the first one is that you start at the ninja academy early, when you are ten, fail the first two years, and then pass when you are 13, so that you remain completely undetected as the Night Haunter, especially after you went public last night – the ANBU clothes were a good idea. The second, is that you give this to Hana." Itachi handed Naruto a scroll.

"Hana. I take it you won't be coming back for a while after this mission, if at all." Itachi nodded sadly. Naruto got it out of Itachi a year ago that he liked Hana, he didn't leave him alone about it before Itachi threated to tell Tsume who he was – a bit below the belt, but it worked.

"Itachi, I will do all these things – I just wish I could see you after today."

"Naruto, I give you my word you will see me again, in a very confusing place, but you will. But I have one last thing to tell you: after seeing you grow after all these years, and what we've been through together, I'd like it if we could leave this place today…. As brothers." Naruto was shocked to the core – brothers! Sure, he respected the hell out of Itachi, and he hoped he respected Naruto back, but he never could have hoped for this. Once more, tears fell from his eyes, he had never had a family, he knew about Minato and Kushina but they were dead.

"Itachi… I would like that as well… adios brother." They embraced each other as sensei and student, and walked away as brothers.

- Later that night -

Itachi was running to the gates of Konoha when he ran into the last person he expected.

"I-Itachi, please don't go, not now" Hana Inuzuka told him with tear rolling down her face. _Damn you Naruto, but thank you._ He thought

"Hana, I have to go, I will see you again, but not for a long time… move on from me, you always were too good for me, please, move on." Hana couldn't believe what she was hearing, _move on… how could I just move on_.

"Itachi… before you go, I want to hear you say it… say it to me." Hana said through clenched teeth.

"Hana I-" Itachi started before she cut him off by screaming:

"TELL ME YOU DON'T LOVE ME ITACHI UCHIHA! TELL ME YOU DON'T LOVE ME … and… and I'll move on." No man, be he Harbinger Of Death or not, could lie to a woman in that situation. He shunshined to her in a hug and whispered in her ear:

"Hana, I'm sorry I had to write that, I just…. I needed to distance myself from you… Hana, I love you, I always have and I always will, goodbye." He kissed her and disappeared into the night, leaving Hana to her tears.

**Alright! That's another chapter down! Flames criticism, praise ect welcome!**


	5. 04 - Genin Exams

**Fourth chapter – believe it!**

**Welcome back to 'Champion Of The Shinigami'**

**No, as many of you would like to believe, I don't own Naruto or the other things that I nick.**

**-Recap: **Uchiha massacre, Hana confronted Itachi, Naruto has 3 affinities, lightning, earth and death.

As soon as Hana walked in the door at the Inuzuka compound Naruto ran to comfort her – he brought the message after all. He ran to embrace her and spoke.

"Ssshhhh Hana, it'll be alright….. he's going to come back-"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW! HOW DO YOU KNOWTHAT HE'LL EVER COME BACK?" She shouted, Naruto expected this and didn't even flinch, he just continued to hug her.

"Because, he gave me his word, it's as simple as that. He won't even let death stop him if it involves his word. It won't be for a long time, but he will come back." Hana eventually stopped crying, Tsume and Kiba saw the whole thing and were utterly perplexed, Tsume even felt a pang of jealousy – _"Jealousy? Why am I jealous of her hugging Naruto…"_

"What's going on Hana, Naruto?" Tsume asked, Naruto looked at Hana and she nodded to him. He led her to a seat and began to explain the situation.

"What I am going to tell you cannot leave this room – can I be assured of your secrecy?" He asked dead seriously, Hana already knew what was going on and nodded, Tsume agreed and Kiba was wondering why he had to ask, of course he'd never rat him out.  
Naruto proceeded to tell them that Itachi was ordered to kill his whole clan, how he couldn't kill Sasuke, how he loved, no loves Hana and that he WOULD be back.

"How do you know all this stuff Naruto?" Kiba asked

"Well, you asked how I was so strong, I guess I can tell you. From the age I was 5, I have been trained by Itachi, he was my sensei. That's all I can tell you, I'm sorry." They said that it was alright and eventually, Naruto left.

Things went by fairly smoothly for the next year, Naruto always patrolled each night as the Night Haunter, eluding the ANBU and keeping an eye on Sasuke, he only had to execute a few criminals, most were smart enough to keep on the right side of the law, _most_.

As it neared Naruto's tenth birthday, most people forgot about the Night Haunter and resumed cursing at Naruto, unfortunately, he had to purposely suffer a few beatings and had to have things thrown at him, just to keep all thoughts of him bring the Night Haunter false, and if he had to suffer a few beatings (which didn't really hurt) why did it matter?

He was at the Inuzuka compound and thought that he better tell them the bad news.

"I need to tell you something – again, I must swear you to secrecy, it can't leave this room." All three Inuzuka's agreed without hesitation.

"For… certain reasons…. I am going to enter the ninja academy after next year, and fail twice."

"But… why Naruto? In all of the spars you and I have, you always clobber me? Why purposely fail?" Naruto smiled at his friend.

"It's…. I can't tell you, not yet why I am doing this…. But know that I will pass when you are in the academy Kiba, I will pass in my third year. For these reasons, I must also distance myself from you for the next three years." When he said this they all had different reactions, Kiba was confused, Hana was sad and Tsume was shocked.

"But… why Naruto? We've been like a family too you, can't you trust-" Tsume was about to continue before he cut in;

"Believe me, it's not that I don't trust you, I trust you all with my life… but it's not a question of my life here…. I-I know I've been keeping a lot of secrets from you, so I'll tell you my oldest one: Kiba, do you know why everyone hates me?" Kiba was shocked at this question

"What are you talking about man? I don't hate you, and the other people-"

"Yes Kiba, all the merchants and adults who sneer and insult me, or don't let their kids near me?" Kiba looked really downtrodden, sure he noticed it, he just didn't want to tell Naruto, he was his friend after all, why should other people's opinions matter?

"…yes"

"It's because of the nine-tailed fox. Everyone knows about how it destroyed part of the village and killed a lot of people – and that the fourth Hokage killed it?" Kiba nodded, who didn't know? Tsume caught on and was shocked that Naruto knew about it

"Well, you can't _kill_ any of the tailed beasts, but you can seal them away. Now, a normal person couldn't even dream of containing a tailed best – let alone the nine tails – inside them, it would obliterate their chakra coils and kill them. But they can be sealed into babies, less than a day old so that their chakra coils aren't developed yet." Realisation was beginning to dawn on both Hana and Kiba.

"But how could the Hokage do this to someone's child?... unless it was his own." They were all astonished, Naruto was the fourths son? Tsume was the first to speak.

"Naruto…. I knew you hold the Kyuubi, but the fourths son? How didn't I see it sooner? Take away the whiskers and it's a mini Minato!" Naruto cleared his throat.

"_Held_" Tsume was confused.

"What do you mean, held?"

"You said I _hold_ the Kyuubi, actually, now I _held_ it. He he…" Tsume was beyond shocked and pointed to Naruto's stomach.

"If…If it's not there, then….where?" Naruto scratched the back of his head and let out a nervous laugh.

"He he… about that… I sort of…. Can't tell you….but I give you my word, in three years, I can." Tsume was still shocked, but accepted what he said. Now Naruto felt a little awkward.

"Ummmm, yeah… I'll get out of your hair now… I'll see you around." Kiba wouldn't let his human best friend just get off the hook like that, he walked up to Naruto and punched him in the face and smiled.

"You better not get flabby, not training against me for 3 years, every time you train, think of that punch, and let it make you get stronger." Naruto then punched Kiba in the guts;

"Don't let _your_self get flabby either" when Kiba recovered they looked at each other and smiled then fist-bumped. Hana scooped Naruto up into a hug.

"Don't get killed, or I'll never forgive you, alright? I can't lose another man…" Naruto hugged back and spoke reassuringly:

"Hana, you haven't lost anybody, Itachi gave you his word that he'd be back, as do I, I give you all my word that I'll see you again in three years… and it's not like I'm _gone_ gone, just, not really around." She smiled at him and walked him outside, Kiba and Hana walked back inside which left Tsume to say her goodbye. She pulled him into a warm embrace, with tears falling shamelessly from her eyes.

"Naruto. Why do you have to go, why do you have to do this?" Tsume asked quietly

"You know I can't answer that, Tsume."

"I know? Just who are you Naruto Uzumaki?" She felt him stiffen when she asked that question.

"I want to answer that question… but I can't….. it would make you hate me." Tsume just hugged him tighter, and whispered into his ear.

"Naruto, there's nothing you could do to make me hate you." She pulled back from her hug to find Naruto crying and blushing.

"Then I'll tell you… in time, goodbye Tsume." And he walked off into the night.

- Hokage's office, a few days later-

After cunningly luring that years' mob after Naruto, they began beating him as usual until a passing ANBU who liked Naruto alerted the Hokage. Suffice to say, heads rolled.

"Aaaahhhh yes, what is it Naruto?" the Hokage asked as Naruto entered his office.

"Well gramps, I was wondering, could I go to the ninja academy next year?" the Hokage was thinking about denying his request – it was a bit early for that, he should have a few more years as a child, still with his innocence, but then he looked into Naruto's pleading eyes and remembered the previous night's incident.

"Of course you can Naruto." In Naruto's mind, his evil half was laughing his arse off.

"Man that old coot is easy to fool – "P-p-please gramps… I wanna be a ninja!" hahahahaha" until the good half walked over to him.

"Show some respect, he is the third Hokage, besides, it was necessary…" the good half really didn't want to manipulate the Hokage, after all, he was one of the few people who was nice to Naruto. The evil half actually had to agree.

"Yeahhhhh, I guess you're right, but damn! We should be actors! That was priceless"

-Time skip; 2 years later-

"Naruto, this is the second time you have failed, was putting you in the academy a bad idea?" The Hokage asked seriously.

"No gramps! It's just…. Well, I'll do better next year! I give you my word that I will pass, and it's my nindo, my ninja way to never go back on my word. I'll make you proud Gramps! Believe it!" Naruto shouted, causing the Hokage to laugh. He dismissed Naruto and thought to himself, _please Naruto, pass this year… I know I haven't been able to help you that much, but please, do this for me._

At the same time, Naruto was having thoughts of his own;_ Damn it! I know I needed to fail those two years, but I didn't want to make the old man disappointed in me. Well, two down, one to go Itachi, Brother._

-Time skip; one year later, day of the genin exams-

(AN: Naruto, Kiba age group = 13, Kakashi's group is 18 and Tsume is 34)

Naruto walked in to the classroom and took his usual seat in the upper corner, with Dante on his shoulder and Louise by his side. Dante had grown to the size of a full raven a while ago, and thanks to some jutsu taught to him by the Inuzuka's, he could extend his two companions lives, and expand their size; Dante was about 2 feet long and about ½ foot wide. Louise was about 2 feet tall and a metre and a half long, and a deep red, not unlike the nine-tails. The villagers had on several occasions tried to have her killed, only to be saved by Naruto or one of the Inuzuka's. He watched patiently as the usual squabble between Sakura and Ino broke out over who would sit next to 'Sasuke dearest'.

"If he didn't deserve, I would feel sorry for him" Naruto whispered to his animals, Louise purred and lay against his leg whilst Dante cawed mockingly and replied;

"But the emo fag does deserve it…" in his usual, deep drawl – that was one of the best things the Inuzuka's did for him when he stayed in contact with them, taught him how to raise animals, and if he did the right jutsu, teach them to talk. Of course, Sasuke heard this.

"Hey idiot, tell your shaggy rat to shut its trap." Some of the girls snickered at this, but before Naruto could reply, Dante did, cawing as he did so

"Shaggy rat…that's the best you could come up with? I'm a talking bird and you say 'shaggy rat'! You crack me up – _Sasuke dearest_. At least Naruto doesn't have a duck coming out the back of his head, arse first." Most of the class laughed at this – no one could laugh if Naruto did this, but his bird? All bets were off – Sasuke grew angry at this, No one insults the Last Uchiha! He jumped over his desk and went for Naruto, but Louise jumped on Naruto's desk and bared her fangs. Before Sasuke could do anything, Dante cawed again.

"What's wrong? Afraid of a shaggy dog too?" The only people who didn't laugh at this were the devoted Sasuke fans. Sasuke was about to advance further before \Iruka walked in.

"UCHIHA, UZUMAKI, SIT DOWN!" Iruka shouted with his '**Angry Iruka Head**' jutsu.

Sasuke seethed and went back to his seat, whilst his animals returned to Naruto, just in time to catch a massive grin from Kiba: _nice work! Only a few more days before we hand out again!_

"Alright everyone. Today is you last day as academy students, the genin test consists of three parts. The first is the theoretical knowledge test, then the taijutsu part, before we come back inside for the last test, the Academy Three." The test began and Naruto was handed a sheet from the bottom of the pile, he knew from past experience that this was the ANBU entrance level exam, thankfully, Naruto could go all out and passed the ANBU test 100 over 100 – much to the distaste of Mizuki, the second teacher, and it left a highly astonished Iruka sensei, who just thought that the gods were whispering in his ear.

The taijutsu test was made up of two parts, throwing with kunai and shuriken and a spar against Mizuki. Sakura got a lowly and barely passing 7/20, Ino got a better 10/20, Hinata and Shikamaru got 11/20, and Kiba and Shino got 17/20. Of course, when Sasuke had his go, he had a whole cheerleading squad with him, and got an impressive 19/20, with a few trick shots in there. He walked over to Naruto.

"Naruto, it looks pretty tough, but im sure you can beat Sakura, if you're lucky that is." He snickered as he walked off, and Kiba went over to Naruto and whispered to him when no one was looking – he was going to fail anyway, why should they pay attention?

"C'mon man, you purposely failed the first two times, show them what you're really made of, what I _know_ what you're made of." He nodded to Naruto as Naruto smiled back. _I can't pass up a chance like this; I just HAVE to put the Uchiha in his place_. He threw the first fourteen without missing a single bullseye, then get got the remaining six kunai between his finger tips, throwing them with a one second interval between them – but he threw them in such a way that the second set not only hit their targets, but diverted the first set into bullseyes. He then called loudly to Sasuke:

"Wow Sasuke! Your luck really paid off! If it wasn't for you, I don't think I could have, yeah, I don't think I could have beaten you! Thanks!" Choji, Kiba and Shikamaru all laughed their arses off as he said this of course.

The next part of the of the taijutsu test was a spar against Mizuki, last two minutes without getting hit, or land a hit on Mizuki within the time limit for bonus points. Sakura and Shikamaru barely lasted the two minutes, Sakura because she spent all of her time admiring Sasuke, and Shikamaru, because he was too lazy. Ino and Hinata did better, striking Mizuki around 1:40; Hinata could have done it sooner, but was too timid to go in for a killing blow. Shino, Kiba and Choji all landed a hit around 1:30, and Sasuke hitting him in 59 seconds! Last up was Naruto, Sasuke walked past, hitting him with his shoulder, Naruto put on a shocked face and held his hands to his cheeks.

"Sasuke dearest! You're not going to wish me luck? Oh the agony!" Held the back of his hand to hand and swooned. Causing Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru to laugh, even Shino had to stifle a chuckle, but this also sent him death glares from the Sasuke Fan club.

As he approached the sparring circle he heard a low chuckle from Mizuki and saw him settle into a stance that would have killed anyone using the Academy stance. Luckily, Naruto wasn't using any stance, or so it appeared. He strolled in with his hands in his pockets and whistled a small tune.

"What are you doing Uzumaki" Mizuki spat, Naruto casually replied.

"Don't need my hands, well, come at me." One moment they were standing ready with everyone watching – what? Naruto was going to get pummelled, who wouldn't want to watch? – The next, Mizuki was knocked out with a broken nose. Everyone bar Kiba and Iruka was confused, Kiba, because the same thing had happened to him, or _would _have, if Naruto didn't stop. And Iruka, because he was a chunin and could just catch what was going on. In slow, Mizuki ran at Naruto, who could easily see the charge coming, stepped diagonally left and forwards, brought his right foot to his right, so Mizuki and him were facing the same direction, tensed his left leg, and at the last moment whipped it into his stomach with a back kick, spun on the kick and launched his right shin into Mizuki's face, breaking his nose, before jumping back to his starting position. He walked over to the stunned Iruka and asked seriously:

"So, what was that, three seconds?" Iruka could only dumbly nod and sent them all back inside, hefting an unconscious Mizuki over his shoulder.

When Mizuki finally awoke and realised what happened, he was fuming almost as much as Sasuke.

"Naruto! Where did you get such power! I demand you answer me!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto. Something inside Naruto snapped, so he let the evil part to his surface and turned to Sasuke with a disturbing smile on his face.

"Oh you demand, do you? And why should I listen to you? What gives you the right to demand? After all, you _were_ defeated by the dead-last of the academy." Naruto pointed out, still keeping that eerie smile on his face, which actually unsettled the Fearless Last Uchiha.

"Because, I am the last Uchiha! Such power is wasted on someone as weak as you!" He sneered.

"But I'm the last Uzumaki; shouldn't that be given some consideration? And besides, how can someone _weak_, have power? If im not mistaken, that cancels it's self out. So… are you saying that you are an idiot… or that you are weaker than me? Pathetic dead-last that I am." He asked. Sasuke was going to reply but Iruka came back into the room telling everyone to get ready to do the Academy Triple.

"Alright everyone, when I call your name, you will come out to the front and perform a substitution, a henge, and a clone, now, first is…."

Eventually, Iruka called Naruto's name, and this is where everyone bar Kiba lost hope, sure, with practise, you _could_ throw weapons that good, and you _could _get that fast, but Naruto always screwed up the clone, there was just no way that he was going to pass.

"Okay, do a substitution Naruto" a 'poof' later and the Hokage was there reading a small orange book with a trail of blood coming from his nose.

"Oh you naughty little thing you… hmm, Iruka? Where am I?" before Naruto 'poofed' back into the classroom. Chuckling to himself.

"Naruto, you have informed me of a _very_ serious problem our Hokage has, thank you. Henge" Naruto then henged into Iruka, buy with Might's 'Nice Guy' pose. Until he turned back into normal.

"Now last is the, clone, jutsu." Iruka looked at Naruto who smiled reassuringly, and produced 4 clones – with no handsigns! Three of them stood in a line with a kanji on each of their chests: LIGHTNING, EARTH and SHADOW, saluting the fourth clone that had a Hokage hat with the kanji for '5' on it. Naruto walked over to the commander clone and stuck his hand through his chest, showing that it was a normal clone.

"See Iruka-sensei. I can make a clone just fine, and a few others too." He smiled at Iruka then nodded to the clones who then dispelled themselves.

"N-Naruto, were those three real?" Iruka asked disbelievingly, I mean, the kid just created two elemental clones, and the forbidden shadow clone!

"Yup! Believe it!" after the initial shock wore off, Iruka told the class to report back tomorrow for squad postings and to see their rankings, and who was rookie of the year.

After chatting to Naruto for a while, Kiba knew that he had to get home to his mum, so he said a quick goodbye to Naruto, saying that they would definitely catch up tomorrow.

As he raced in the door, he nearly bowled over Hana looking for his mum.

"Hey mum, where are you!" He shouted out, only to be whacked on the head by the very woman he was looking for.

"What are you shouting for pup? It better be important." She threatened, Kiba put up his hands in defence.

"It is mum! It is! You'll never guess what happened at school today." He then regaled to Tsume and Hana the events at school, making as much effort he could to tell them about Naruto. Tsume then spoke with a tear in her eye.

"Wow, the little pup really has grown… I can't wait to see him again."

"Jeez mum, stop cryin', it's only been 3 years." The tears removed themselves from her eyes when she looked at Kiba again.

"How can _you_ say that, little one, you got to see him every day. Remember what he said when he left? Don't go getting flabby. Don't make you and I have a, friendly, spar… little pup." She added threateningly. As Kiba started to back away, he raised his hands.

"It's not like that at all mum…hehe… I wonder what the teams will be though?

**Sha-bang! Another chapter down! Next chapter will be team placement and their first missions.**

**Stay tuned for more… DRAGON….BALL…oh, wait, no… cya next time good readers, PLEASE COMMENT, FLAMES WELCOME!**


	6. 05 - Team Seven

**And I bring you all chapter 5 of 'Champion of the Shinigami'**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto – Believe it!**

**-Recap: **Naruto has distanced himself from the Inuzuka's for three years, and then he completely aced the genin exams. Kiba told Hana and Tsume about Naruto's new strength, Tsume got somewhat misty-eyed and Kiba wondered who would be in each team, well, he would find out tomorrow.

**Night of genin exams:**

Naruto was walking through the forest when he sensed Mizuki's chakra signature. _What does that fool want now?_ He thought to himself, but he played dumb and waited for Mizuki to jump out.

"Hey Naruto! C'mere a minute." Mizuki asked.

"Hey Mizuki-sensei! What are you doing out here so late? Oh my gosh! I completely forgot to apologise about your nose! Sorry about that!" _Dear Kami, please let Mizuki be straight and to the point, I think I felt physically sick when I said that._

"Oh it's fine Naruto, besides, I was going a little hard in that spar, you taught me a lesson in humility." Mizuki smiled. _Please let the demon brat fall for this quickly, I can't stand this much longer!_ – It appears that their thoughts were along similar lines.

"Wow, thanks Mizuki-sensei! I don't mean to be rude, but, did you have a reason to be talking to me or..." Naruto said.

"Actually, yes, the results came in, and you are tied rookie of the year with Sasuke, to beat him all you need to do is go to the Hokages' office and get a big scroll, it'll be in a side room on a pedestal. If you can bring that back here, you will be rookie of the year, okay?" _hehehe, if the demon brat brings me this, not only will I rise in the eyes of Lord Orochimaru, but I will finally have a reason to kill the demon!_

"You got it Mizuki-sensei!" _what does this fool want with the forbidden scroll? I must inform the Hokage._ Naruto ran off into the forest until he was out of sight of Mizuki and shunshined into the Hokage's office.

Meanwhile, the Hokage was reading through Naruto's scores on the genin exams, and was utterly bamboozled at what he saw. All through the year, his marks fluctuated from failing to just scraping a pass, and he _was_ reading the right scores, wasn't he?

He continued reading until a figure shunshined into his office that seemed rather familiar. He had steel-shod combat boots, black ANBU pants with ANBU shin guards, a mesh undershirt (AN: what Kiba wear under his jumper, you see it in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc) a jet black coat (AN: what Ibiki wears only with a high collar and sleeves) with ANBU shoulder and arm-guards and a mask like Kakashi's.

"Lord Hokage, I don't have much time to explain, but I need a replica forbidden scroll, without the jutsu on it please." It took a moment to register in his brain,

"Naruto? Is that you?" The visitor then had a hurt look on his face.

"It's understandable that you don't recognise me with these clothes on, but, come on gramps, it's me!" Naruto told the Hokage with a small amount of hurt in his voice.

"So it IS you… then I take it the genin results were accurate, and did you shunshin here?" The Hokage asked. Naruto sighed.

"Yes, it's me, yes the results are accurate and yes, I shunshined here, please, I quickly need a replica scroll. The Hokage looked at the new Naruto; _it seemed my suspicious about the Night Haunter may prove true after all…_

"Very well, here… and I expect answers when you return." He handed Naruto a large scroll that looked exactly like the forbidden scroll.

"Thanks grapms!" Naruto then shunshined back to the forest and came face-to-face with a surprised Mizuki.

"Dem-Naruto! Why did you change your clothes, ahhh, I assume that's the forbidden scroll? Then I don't have to keep this idiotic act up any longer! You will die tonight demon!" he lunged at Naruto who easily sidestepped the attack.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious. He was confused; Mizuki thought he could _kill_ Naruto? Now, having as much power as Naruto did one would think that he would become arrogant, as it appears now. But it was clear to anyone who would die tonight.

Mizuki took it the wrong way, he thought Naruto was asking about calling him a demon, now that he was going to kill him, it didn't matter if he knew.

"Yes, that's right. You are a demon! Ever since you were born you have carried the nine tailed fox! That is why everyone hates you! That is why no one will ever love you! HAHAHAHAHAAA!" By now, Mizuki was cackling crazily. To which laugher, Naruto joined.

"W-why are you laughing?! You are a demon! I'm going to kill you!" Naruto was beside himself with laughter, trying to choke out his words.

"Do…hahahah…you really think, hahaha… I didn't know…hahaha, about the Kyuubi? Hahaha"

"W-What? You knew about it?"

"Are you fucking retarded? How would you not know if you had a being made of pure chakra inside you?" Mizuki was getting angry, _how dare this demon talk down to me? I'll kill it_.

"It doesn't matter demon! I'll still kill you, and even when you are dead, everyone will rejoice that you are dead, no one will love you!" This sent terrifying thoughts through Naruto's mind _No one will ever love me?...Tsume…'don't you think a 21 year age gap is a little big?'...'die demon!'…'stay away from my children!'….'hahaha, look at the demon! All alone, that's how you'll die demon'…_ these thoughts stirred the sadistic and evil half of Naruto to the surface; _don't let this fools words affect you Naruto, lets flay him instead, a good death for a traitor, don't you think?_ He needed to calm Naruto down, thankfully, the good half came to his aid, _and you remember what Tsume said, right? "Naruto, there's nothing you could do to make me hate you", to me those words sounded a lot like love, don't you think?_

"Mizuki… you are right about two things, and wrong about one: when I am dead, people will rejoice, true, no one will love me? False. Any you'll kill me? What is dead never dies." He then summoned his blood red scythe and sliced through his legs, resulting in a petrifying scream from Mizuki, before Mizuki's existence finally faded, Naruto told him one last thing:

"I died a long time ago, no one can kill me."

Naruto and Mizuki (sans legs) shunshined into the Hokage's office, to see him waiting anxiously, anxious at their next conversation, and the body dripping blood onto his floors.

"Now, about our talk…" The Hokage began, well, where could he begin? So, Naruto, buddy old pal, are you a sadistic vigilante?

"I don't mean to sound rude, but let's cut to the chase. I presume you know who I am?"

"You are Naruto Uzumaki… and the Night Haunter" Naruto smiled sadly at the old Hokage, neither of the wanted this conversation, but it had to happen. Naruto sighed before continuing.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, The Night Haunter, and Naruto Namikaze, son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki." The Hokage was shocked at this, he expected Naruto to own up about the Night Haunter bit, but how did he know about his lineage!? That was a secret than only a select few know about! Regardless, it made the Hokage feel guilty about having to lie to Naruto for the past 13 years.

"It's alright, gramps. I would have done the same thing were I in your situation; you have nothing to blame yourself for." The Hokage was shocked, could he read minds too?

"Truth be told, I've known for about 7 years, at first, yes I was pissed, but then I put myself in your shoes, and figured that you had your own reasons for doing it. In the end, what would have happened if Iwa found out that the Yellow Flash had a son? And would the council really believe that the 'demon brat' was the fourth son?" he smiled knowingly at the old man.

"We still have a lot to talk about though. The reason I am the Night Haunter is to reduce the number of criminals. I had been executing for a few years before I sent you that video… the situation called for extreme measures, it appeared that the top ranking criminals didn't notice that a lot of their kind were being knocked off." The Hokage had to agree with Naruto on this,

"Whilst I do agree… did it have to be so _gruesome_, and why was Setsuna's body placed in Sakuno's house?"

"Yes, it did. If they were just being _killed_, then the message wouldn't get across. And as for its placing… the howler monkey also had a hand in what would have happened." The Hokage was shocked at this, he knew that Sakuno always had her nose in Shinobi business, and it was no great secret that she wanted to head the council… but to have someone who stood out against her killed? Let alone raped?

"I-I see, I shall have her-"

"No, do nothing against Sakuno; though she is beyond forgiveness, she is – much to my annoyance – not beyond redemption. I shall observe her and what she does in the future… but we have one last order of business, Mizuki."

"Yes, it's a pity you had to kill him..." the Hokage commented dryly, to which Naruto smiled.

"You dog, as the Professor Of Shinobi, you just wanted to see my Shinigami jutsu, didn't you?" The Hokage smiled like a child caught in the cookie jar.

"But you do have a point; I shouldn't have cut off his legs, maybe a hand…" The Hokage went to laugh, but noticed that Naruto was being serious.

"**Shinigami Art: Judge Of Death!** No screaming for you." He quickly grabbed Mizuki's throat and ran chakra through his hand with practiced ease.

"You are in the Shinigami's Courtroom; all words that leave your lips must be truth. Why did you want me to bring you the forbidden scroll?" And in a monotone voice, Mizuki replied:

"To give to Lord Orochimaru, as he requested." Both Naruto and the Hokage drew in breath sharply at this.

"Orochimaru… this is not good, Lord Hokage, you understand what this means… I will let you ask the questions now…." For the next half hour they questioned Mizuki, and when they knew everything, Naruto returned Mizuki to death.

"Well, he didn't know much, but we know that Orochimaru is back… would you be able to have people look into this?" Naruto asked the Hokage.

"Yes, I know just the man…but Naruto, where did you learn all of this? How did you become so strong? Why did you fail the academy not once, but twice?" The Hokage questioned.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you that, as for failing twice, I did that on purpose, yes. But some of the teachers weren't teaching me at all, in fact, the only one who really taught me at all is Iruka-sensei. But rest assured, everything will become much cleared next year, around the time of the chunin exams – at which time I will have a flavour to ask you. But… that is all I can really tell you… im sorry." The Hokage smiled at Naruto.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, yes, I'm a little…_apprehensive_… that you are the Night Haunter, but you have agreed to tell me, that is as much as I could ask for. I assume I'll see you around?"

"Of course gramps, you're not going to get rid of me that easily! I still need to take that hat from you, remember?" The Hokage called out to Naruto;

"I was going to put you on a team with Sasuke and Sakura, but seeing as you are a lot stronger than originally thought…" Naruto sighed at this,

"Unfortunately, I gave someone my word that I would observe Sasuke and see how he grows, as for Sakura…" he shivered at the thought.

"Well… it's better me than someone else, right? But, could you put Kiba on a team with Ino? I've seen him sneaking glances at her for a while now." Naruto walked off, the Hokage's reply was a perverted giggle and to pull out _Icha Icha paradise _from his back pocket.

**The next day; Ninja Academy; 9am**

_'Wow, with that new change of clothes, Naruto looks pretty hot'_ Ino Yamanaka thought. If she was honest to herself, she didn't really like Sasuke, the main reason she fought Sakura for him was so that Sakura would see her as a rival and grow stronger. Now let's not be hasty, Sasuke was pretty good looking, with mystique and a 'bad-boy attitude', but other than that – he didn't really have much, he was borderline psychotic when you brought up the Uchiha massacre (fair enough), every attempt either her or Sakura, or any of the other fan girls for that matter, made at trying to go out with him crashed and burnt spectacularly.

"Naruto, man – I'm liking the new duds, it's about time you lost that orange jumpsuit. It would have been hard _not_ to see you." Kiba joked. Naruto laughed and frankly had to agree, _man am I glad those three years are over, sure, I can't go all out, but I can definitely bring a lot to the fore._ Naruto decided as Kiba sat next to him. Everyone joked and talked until Iruka came in with his **Big Head** jutsu active.

"QUIET DOWN!... The results for the genin exams are now up outside, however…" Everyone was braced on the edges of their seats for the top three.

"In third place… Shino Aburame." Naruto looked over at Shino and nodded at him _nice work_, which he returned.

"In second place… Sasuke Uchiha" The pencil he was spinning snapped with a loud crack, Iruka purposefully ignored it and had to supress a smile. At the start of the year, he was like the rest of the teachers, giving Sasuke better treatment, making sure that he understood everything. A few weeks into the year he realised what Sasuke was – a tosser with a stick up his lordly Uchiha arse. But Iruka wasn't unkind, he still did his job as a teacher but he didn't give him any undue attention – instead focusing on Naruto who actually needed his help, or so it seemed.

"And in first place, as rookie of the year… Naruto Uzumaki. Well done Naruto!" he then started a clap which all joined in with, except the Sasuke fan club. Iruka handed Naruto his rookie of the year headband (AN: the only difference was that its bandana was black not blue) and told them to patiently wait for him to get the team placement sheets.

"Naruto! I demand you give me that headband!" Sasuke held his hand out and had a menacing look on his face.

"Again with the demanding (!)" Naruto said exasperatedly.

"Yes, I demand you give me that headband, it is wasted on you, you are pathetic and I am great, now. Give me the headband."

"You aren't great, no one here is great. The only people who are great are those whose names are known in faraway lands. Are you known abroad? No, Sasuke, if you listen, you might just learn something: no one is born to greatness, it isn't awarded to you, you have to make it yourself." Naruto felt a faint glimmer of hope, _yes, please listen I don't want to kill you – much. Listen and gain from this_. Unfortunately, this glimmer was snuffed out.

"I AM great! Everyone knows about the Last Uchiha!" Sasuke seethed – how dare this piece of crap talk down to him, he wasn't even in a clan! At that point, Naruto got that familiar 'prankster sparkle' in his eyes.

"Actually, I'm inclined to agree with you, people do know of the 'Last Uchiha', but how do they know it's not her?" and pointed to Sakura – much to everyone's confusion.

"They only know of the LAST Uchiha, not SASUKE Uchiha. In fact, if you activate your sharingan _right now._ I will bend thine knee and bow before, agreeing that you are better than me in all aspects, and graciously give you your 'rightful headband'". Sasuke seethed, it was common but unspoken knowledge that he couldn't manifest his sharingan yet. Naruto faked being shocked.

"Kami! Sasuke can't use the sharingan! Oh heavens! Wait a second – face value, you could probably guess Kiba's an Inuzuka because of his markings and Akamaru of course!" This awarded him a small yip from said dog.

"You could probably guess Shino's an Aburame because of his concealment, like his glasses and coat." Which earnt him a dignified nod from Shino.

"You could probably guess Choji's an Akimichi because of his happy nature and his… big-bonedness." _Phew, nearly crossed the forbidden line there._ And got a thumbs up from Choji.

"But the one thing that really stands out on an Uchiha is their sharingan, their copy-eyes. Well, and their arrogance, I mean, could we even… _really_, call you an Uchiha? " He asked mockingly. Sasuke was about to kill Naruto at this point, so through clenched teeth he _seethed_ out:

"Your… wrong… take. It. Back." Naruto purposely missed the point.

"Y'kno, you're right, I did know an Uchiha who _wasn't _arrogant, great guy too." Most people were standing around them by now, waiting the inevitable fight. Just as Sasuke got his kunai out:

"EVERYONE BACK TO THEIR SEATS! UZUMAKI! UCHIHA! SETTLE DOWN!" with barely contained rage Sasuke returned to his seat. Iruka looked down at the sheet.

"Alright, Team One is…" (AN: like all authors, I really can't think of that many Naruto-e names)

"Team Seven: Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno." Naruto shrugged his shoulders; he already knew this was going to happen. Kiba felt sorry for the poor guy, he had to purposely fail twice, and then this!

"Psst, hey Naruto… sorry about that man, the ass-stick AND the howler monkey, I feel for you, but I just can't reach you."

"It's alright... better me than you right? By the way, the Hokage owed me a favour, now you owe me one." Kiba looked confused – what was he talking about? Naruto nudged him and shook his head towards Ino as they heard:

"…burame, Kiba Inuzuka and Ino Yamanaka." Kiba was amazed.

"How did you?... never mind, ha-ha, I probably don't want to know, do I?" he asked knowingly, to which Naruto shook his head.

"Team Nine is still active, Team Ten will be: Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara and Hinata Hyuuga. Well everyone, I just want to congratulate you all once again for becoming genin, you were an excellent class..." at this point, Iruka was starting to get a little misty eyed – it had probably been one of his best classes ever.

"C'mon everyone! Let's give it up for Iruka Sensei!" Naruto started a thunderous class wide clap for his teacher, and one of the few people who treated him fairly.

About 45 minutes later, there were only teams Seven, Eight and Ten left when a lady wearing a tan trench coat with a miniskirt, mesh shirt and purple hair walked in.

"A-Anko? Wh-what are you doing here?" Naruto asked shakily. The emotion of fear had been eradicated from him years ago, but somehow this crazy woman still creeped him out.

"Well! If it isn't Naruto! I like the getup; you look kind of like Ibiki in that coat. And what am I doing here? Im a Jonin leader – Team Eight with me!" Kiba was kind of confused, did they know each other?

"Hey Naruto, do you know her?" Actually, Naruto was a welcome guest in the Konoha Torture and Interrogation department, he was a firm believer in hard justice, and had actually shown them a thing or two! But he was careful not to be too reminiscent of the Night Haunter; he was a wanted S-rank criminal. (The Shinobi were wary but respectful of him, it was the civilians who were terrified, and so the Hokage had no other choice.) Naruto, just for being him, couldn't resist pranking Kiba.

"Yeah, I know her, oh, by the way, you'll get along great if you tell her you like snakes, go tell her that and you will be fine." Kiba trusted his friend's judgement and so went up to her and asked:

"Hey Anko-sensei? Do you like snakes by any chance?" as they were walking out the door, Anko looked over at Naruto who was nodding his head and grinning like a madman, _do it do it do it do it!_

"Why yes I do, I think we'll get along just fine…" Kiba was going to kill Naruto.

As they left, a lazy looking tanned man by the name of Asuma Sarutobi walked in. he was fairly tall and built, with deep blue hair and a smoke hanging out of his mouth, Shikamaru liked him instantly; _sweet, he doesn't look that energetic, maybe I could have a nap later._ Oh how wrong he was, looks can be deceiving, as he would later find out.

"Team Ten, let's go." As they left Sakura had had enough.

"AAAGGGHHHH! Where is out sensei? We've been waiting here for hours!" Naruto was going to reply but thought better of it, _I can't be bothered getting into an argument with the howler monkey at the moment_. So instead he unhooked his scythe from his back and began sharpening it, the simple but deadly weapon unsettled Sakura. Her mother had told her of the Night Haunter and how he followed her some nights with a blood red scythe, and a dulled down version of what happened to her brother. Although Naruto's scythe wasn't the blood red one that the Night Haunter carried, the simple black metal staff with an ash-black blade still disturbed her.

Eventually, their jonin sensei walked in. he had the standard jonin outfit and vest, but had a mask like Naruto's and his bandana covered his left eye – Kakashi Hatake.

"Team Seven, meet me on the roof," and shunshined away. Sakura was gobsmacked, first he's an hour late, and then he ORDERS them to the roof, if Sasuke wasn't there, she would kill their sensei! Naruto clasped his scythe to his back (AN: it sticks there with chakra) and shunshined to the roof, whilst Sasuke brooded and walked out of the door, with his devoted Sakura following behind.

Kakashi was shocked! He was going to read some _Icha Icha Paradise_, but one of his genin was already there, and he looked so familiar too! _M-Minato Sensei? Is that you?_ Because of his mask, most of Naruto's whiskers were concealed; hence he looked like his father.

"Weren't you ever taught that staring is rude?" Naruto asked politely. _He made a promise to my father to look out for me; he's failed so far, but let's see how he does as a teacher…_ That voice! It was Minato's chil- NO! It was not Minato's son, he died when the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him, he died with Minato… this was a demon standing before him… At that point, Sasuke and Sakura finally made it to the top.

"Alright, we should probably use our first day to get to know each other. We'll each introduce our selves and tell each other things about us; likes, dislike, hobbies, dreams, I'll go first. My name is Kakashi Hatake, I like a lot of things, I dislike a lot of things, I have a few hobbies, and my dreams? I've never really thought about it… Uchiha." _I'll keep my promise to you Obito; I'll train Sasuke into a mighty warrior._

"My name… Is Sasuke Uchiha… I don't like anything, I _hate _a lot of things (looks at Naruto) my hobby is gaining power, and my dream… is to _kill_ a certain person, and to avenge my clan." _Damn it Itachi, I think I'll have to kill him..._ During this whole process, Sakura was watching him with hearts in her eyes. _My Sasuke is so dreamy, I'll help restore his clan, and I'll mend his broken heart!"_ Kakashi pointed at Sakura.

"Okay, pinky."

"My name is Sakura Haruno, I like (looks at Sasuke and giggles), I hate Naruto! My hobby is (looks at Sasuke and giggles, again) and my dream is to help Sasuke and be his… (Looks at Sasuke and giggles, yet again)." Kakashi's eyes wander over Naruto.

"You, go."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like ramen, Dante and Louise here, training, my friends and other things, and I dislike people who break their word, those who break the law and arrogance, my hobby? Training, and my dream is to be the Hokage, but before that? Probably ANBU or an interrogator for the T and I division." Kakashi snorted contemptuously, _that demon would never make it into ANBU, and he probably pukes at the sight of blood_. Sakura was still looking at Sasuke and so didn't even hear, and Sasuke believed that Naruto was too far beneath him to listen.

"Okay Team Seven, we'll meet back here tomorrow to see if you are ready to become genin."

"But, Kakashi-sensei, we already are genin, aren't we?" Sakura asked.

"No, you have passed the academy test, you need to pass the genin test, we'll meet at training grounds 7, and I suggest you don't eat breakfast – you'll puke." Naruto could tell a lie when he heard it, so was ready for some itchiraku in the morning, Sakura thought she was too fat for Sasuke anyway, and Sasuke just 'hhnn'ed'.

Kiba was running on the roofs of Konoha until he saw exactly who he was looking for.

"Hey! Hey Naruto!" Naruto looked and saw Kiba, smiled and jumped over to him.

"Sup Kiba, what's going on?" He asked.

"Don't you remember? You promised that we could see you again after three years, it's been that long, so c'mon back to the compound." Naruto stopped.

"You mean, youse still, want to be friends with me?" Kiba looked hurt.

"What are you talking about? We never stopped being your friends… why would you think that way?"

"It's just…. Never mind... I can't wait to talk with you all again… Tsume…" Kiba smiled and agreed with him.

"Kami you're right! Mum won't stop going on about you, now let's go!" Kiba went to run off before Naruto grabbed his shoulder. Dante flew to his arm and Louise curled around his leg.

"I've got a better idea, pick up Akamaru…"

Hana Inuzuka was washing a few afternoon dishes with her mum until she picked up an animal magazine and sat at the table and read her magazine peacefully. Well, it would have been peaceful if two boys, a dog, a fox and a crow lightning shunshined right on top of the table, suffice to say, Hana and Tsume were _shocked_ at the entrance, and their mouths hung agape. Naruto looked at them puzzled.

"What? It looks like you two have seen a ghost… there's nothing on my face, is there?" He idly scratched his cheek but after a few moments neither he nor Kiba could keep a straight face and fell down laughing. After overcoming their initial surprise, both Hana and Tsume hugged Naruto warmly.

"So the prodigal pup returns. It's so good to see you again Naruto." Tsume said, only just containing her joy.

"It's about time you got back Naruto, any longer and mum would have started crying!" Hana laughed, getting a punch on the top of her head from Tsume, with a slight tint of blush on her cheeks.

"Or _really_ young pup!"

"Now, now, mum, hehe, you know I was only kidding…" Tsume turned back to Naruto, just as Hana mouthed _not kidding_ to him.

"I speak for all of us when I say it's good to have you back Naruto, why did you have to stop making contact with us anyway?" Tsume asked. _Damn, it! They can't know, not yet… fuck! What do I do?_

"I know, youse aren't going to like this, but I can't tell you –yet! By the time the chunin exams roll over, everyone will know… so how have you been anyway?" he tried to change the subject, they dropped the previous conversation, after all, they were glad to just have him back!

They talked for a few hours about anything that came to mind, although they had to explain to Kiba what the chunin exams were – although in his defence, not many genin know about it until a while before it.

They made their goodbyes and Tsume walked him out. She sighed and turned to him;

"I just wish you'd tell me who you are Naruto." Yet again, she felt him go rigid at that question. _WHY?! Why can't I tell her!? _He screamed inside himself, the good half of his soul was listening however. _Just tell her Naruto, and let her decide… you have always loved and protected her from the shadows, you can still keep doing that either way. _Naruto was conflicted, _but… but what if she… NO, I HAVE to do this._ Tsume was confused when he started shaking and crying, she went to hug him but he stopped her. He looked her tearfully in the eye,

"You want to know who I am?" He hated himself for what he was about to do, he was going to plunge a knife into her heart, she would feel betrayed for him being the Night Haunter, but it would be better than letting the lie go on. He reached down and kissed her hand, he looked at her yet again.

"I am an admirer" and before she could do anything, he pushed himself away and shunshined off. _Naruto! I have to find you before you do something you'll regret._

Naruto was on the Hokage heads, up on the fourths head, looking over the side at the lake that was beneath it, or more precisely, the razor sharp rocks that were in it. _It's doubtful that someone _else _can kill me, but I know I can kill myself, so I can finally end my nightmares._ Ever since he became the Night Haunter, he frequently had nightmares about what would happen if Tsume and the Inuzuka's found out who he really was. Most ended in him being flayed whilst they watched and laughed. He can finally end it all now…

"NARUTO! STOP!" _I finally found you_. In his current state, he barely recognised Tsume,

"Come to kill me yourself, I won't deny you that." He spoke with a sorrowful sense of finality, like it was _going_ to happen. Tsume started walking to him with a determined look on her face. _Finally, it will all be over, Shinigami, I will see you soon…_ he was broken from his thoughts by a sharp stinging on his face. He opened his eyes to see Tsume with a hand outstretched and rivers of tears running down her face, and slapped him again.

"Don't you dare…. Don't you DARE kill yourself… why would you do this to yourself? Why would you do this to me?" She pleaded and asked. Naruto was beyond confusion.

"But… don't you hate me; I am the Night Haunter…. I-"

"What did I tell you? Nothing you could ever do would make me hate you." she held him now, as he hugged back he spoke.

"So, you _don't_ want to kill me? But… im grotesque…" She drew back and looked at him with bloodshot eyes.

"No, I don't want to kill you, how could I? You mean too much to me…" _I…I mean something to her?_

"And as for you being grotesque? You are only like that when you are Night Haunter, it _is _grotesque, but you have to get a point across… that still wouldn't stop me from caring for you…. from loving you." As she whispered the last part, Naruto's heart stopped…_she loves me? It's now or never!_

"Tsume… I know for you, that loving me is only as a mother… but I love you! Not as a mother, but as a woman! At first, it was as a mother, but… as I grew older and began to understand things….. And when I was away from you… I love you Tsume. I know, right now, im too young for you… but, trust me, when it comes time for the chunin exams, all will be revealed, a solution for this, why I am the Night Haunter, everything." To say she was astonished was an understatement. _Naruto loves me?_

_"_Y-You love me? Why? T-that sounds wrong, at first, yes I cared for you, then I loved you as a son, but… now, I think my feelings for you have gotten stronger… but, why do _you_ love _me?_ I'm just…" He then did something bold, he placed a finger on her lips;

"That's the thing about love; you can't explain what it is, only that it is." He removed his finger and kissed her on the lips.

"I apologise, but I really wanted to do that" he said, somewhat dreamily. She smiled and kissed him back then stood up.

"Not at all, I wanted too, too. But about you being the Night Haunter." She giggled a bit.

"Us three have known for a while…" They knew?! How did they know?.. His reaction?

"WHAT!? But, why didn't youse say anything?" he was more confused than anything else.

"Well, Kuromaru knew straight away, but I was too surprised too really think straight. The next day, after the council meeting I talked to the Hokage, he seemed to know who it was and said that I'd find out sooner than I thought, and he looked pretty pissed too – more so that you didn't tell him, rather than actually doing it. So I went over everything that happened, how everything played out, etc., etc. I knew it had to be someone who _admired_ me (gaining a blush from Naruto). And someone who was pretty short – or young. That was probably your fatal flaw, when you started doing this at 9, you were a little on the short side. At first, I was surprised that you could be so… well, cruel isn't the word, because everyone you have executed or flayed, have deserved it – sadistic. But then I thought on everything that has happened to you, and frankly, I'm surprised you didn't do it sooner!" Naruto was surprised at her explanation, and she was even laughing! Tears of joy began to form in his eyes.

"Thank you Tsume, thank you…. but, why didn't you tell me that you knew?"

"Well, after you stopped coming over all the time, I knew that it was to keep a low profile, and to protect us. One day, we were talking about another Night Haunter incident when we all seemed to agree, although extreme, the Night Haunter was doing a good thing. That's when I told them. But, the reason we haven't told you that we know, is because we wanted to respect your decision of not telling us, besides, we knew we would find out soon enough." Naruto was amazed yet again, this time at their consideration. They would have continued their conversation were it not for 3 people jumping out at them; they were wearing NE ANBU armour.

"Naruto Uzumaki, step aside. Tsume Inuzuka is to be executed, and you are to come with us." Were they not going to try and kill Tsume, he would have laughed at them, they were going to try and kill him? However, he would remain civil – for now. He winked at Tsume _just trust me on this._

"On what grounds is Miss Inuzuka going to be executed, and for what reason am I to come with you?"

"Tsume Inuzuka is going to be executed for knowing too much about the Night Haunter, and you, because Lord Danzo has had us observing you for some time now, and you have become too strong, Lord Danzo will let you live, should you choose to join us." Naruto let his evil side to the surface.

"Tsume, I suggest you look away, otherwise you will see something rather gruesome, but you will also see my true form." Knowing what was going to happen for the most part, Tsume chose to watch. Naruto reached to the top left of his face and made his mask appear. As he did so, his clothes changed to his robe, his scythe appeared in his right hand, and his wings sprouted from his back. Because he was in one of his strongest forms, he had an even greater control over chakra, and sent it to pull the three ROOT ANBU closer to the ground. (AN: think Bleach spiritual pressure, in this fic, it's like an advanced form of Killer Intent). He pounded his scythe on the ground twice; Dante appeared and plucked one of the agents' eyes out, before ripping out his throat, whilst Louise was much more spectacular, bracing her legs before she jumped _through_ another ANBU's chest. When Naruto was in his Judge Of Death form, Dante had turned bone white and lost all of his feathers, so he looked skeletal. Louise on the other hand had all of her muscles and bones grow, and her claws and fangs grew to twice their size, so she truly looked like a demon from hell. Naruto walked up to the remaining agent.

"You, I have not felt your chakra signature for long, how long have you been following me." All ROOT ANBU are conditioned to remove all emotions, but after seeing this… this _demon_ have two of his animals slaughter two comrades, he was somewhat fearful of the being before him. He swallowed before he answered, finding his mouth dry.

"N-Not very long, we only started last night, after Lord Danzo saw your genin exam test scores… please, please don't kill me." He whispered his prayers when he felt a crushing grip on his head, pulling his gaze upwards, to meet the chilling smile of death.

"Oh I'm not going to kill you; you still have use to me." He then coursed chakra through his brain, wiping his mind back to when he was a few years old, so he could understand basic commands. He then embraced the agent in a hug and placed a genjutsu over him.

"Are you okay little one?" Naruto asked, although in the ANBU's eyes he looked and sounded like an old woman.

"Y-yes I am, do you know where my dad is?" he asked innocently.

"Yes, you fell over and bumped you head. You father asked me to look after you, I have a friend who can help you, he'll take you to your dad, okay?"

"You really mean it? Thanks lady, what do I have to do?" Naruto pointed to the Hokage tower, where he knew there was a council meeting.

"You see that biiiig building. He lives there. Go to the top floor, there will be a room on the right, not the left, the right… this hand. Find the man in bandages, he'll be at a big table, there will be a man with a funny had too, just go to the man with bandages, he will help you, okay?" the ANBU agent couldn't believe his luck; this lady would help find his dad!

"Wow old lady! You are really kind, thank you!" and ran off. Tsume came over to Naruto,

"What… was that about? And what did you just do? What are you wearing?" Tsume questioned him, he unvisored, Louise and Dante returned to their normal forms and he had to say his most hated thing:

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you yet. Remember, chunin exams…okay?" he smiled nervously at her, she decided to relent.

"Fine… but come the chunin exams… and only because I love you." He felt his heart flutter again.

"But, uh… despite how much I wanna be with you, just because of this damn age thing! We can't be together… in public." Naruto was absolutely devastated when he said that, but Tsume looked at him sadly.

"I kind of assumed that…but, we'll make it work, somehow." She smiled sadly at Naruto who did the same, but then he seemed to have a bit of a shock.

"Naruto, are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah, it's just the ANBU… I wiped his memory and am about to take control of him. I'll see you tomorrow." She was about to ask what he was talking about before she was shunshined into the Inuzuka compound, and he shunshined away.

"We also have a festival next month this is going to be…" The Third Hokage was going insane! It was already 11pm and the council was still going! _Dear brain…you have been with me since I came into this world, but sadly, you left by yourself when this council meeting started. You were always a good friend, rest in peace._ His mind was numb! Why did the civilians have to call meetings EVERY weekend! He needed some peace and quiet! _Even paperwork is better than this_! And from his point of view, Kami was listening, because he was about to get a _lot _of paperwork. A man walked in wearing ROOT ANBU armour, and seemed very timid when he talked, almost like a child.

"UUUmmm, excuse me, hello. A big table… a man with a funny hat… the man with bandages!" he said this as he pointed to Danzo.

"The old lady told me you could help me find my dad, so I-" he would have kept talking were it not for Naruto invading his mind. His eyes turned black, he took in a deep breath and cracked his bones.

"AAAhhhhh, someone else's body… this is a weird feeling... ahhh! Miss Haruno, the bed still warm? HAHAHAHAHA." Sakuno would recognise that sadistic voice and laughter _anywhere._ She shakily lifted a finger to him.

"Y-Y-Y you're the…Night…Haunter…" the only thing that kept her from fainting was the sever level of shaking she was doing. The ANBU agent shakily pointed at him.

"Y-Y-Y yes, I-I-I-I am... HAHAHAHAAA" he mocked.

"Damn, you old people crack me up, but onto business." His voice lost all of its gaiety and laughter, and took a demonic tone.

"DANZO! STAY AWAY FROM NARUTO UZUMAKI, HIS SOUL BELONGS TO ME, NO ONE ELSE! UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE FLAYED, STAY OUT OF HIS LIFE!" his voice returned to normal.

"Now, I know – bit loud, should have used my inside voice, but. Well, death will look good for you if you go near him again, toodle-oo." He raised a hand and shook his fingers in goodbye, the council people were shitting themselves at what just happened, and then they noticed the blood coming from the ANBU agent's ears. A few moments later, his head exploded in a fine mist, spraying everyone.

The Hokage was about to kill someone, he seethed at Danzo through clenched teeth and with barely contained rage.

"Danzo…. What have I told you about Naruto. HE, WILL NOT, BE. YOUR. WEAPON!" the Shinobi present looked at Sarutobi with a new respect; there was the famous will of fire.

**Okay, chapter 5 down! I actually noticed my chapters were a little short. And then I noticed I didn't spell check my chapters either, sorry dear readers! But I will have re posted spell checked versions of the past 4 chapters.**

**And a thank you to Redwolf and Lightning-Squall for commenting. And for those people who are like 'guest' and make a comment like 'crap'… I'm fine if you insult or don't like my story(s), but please say WHY their crap. Pretty please!**


	7. 06 - Missions

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**Howdy-doody everyone! This here is the sixth chapter of 'Champion Of The Shinigami', in this chapter, some things happen here and there, but the main spectacle is on their mission to wave! There will be a bit more interaction between team seven, a little bit of Kiba and Ino action in Team Eight, and something awesome happens with Haku and Zabuza – frankly I think it's awesome! I haven't written it yet, but it's gonna be good…..**

**Now, many warriors in my immortal legion have asked, 'Do you own Naruto', alas, no I don't.**

-**Recap:** Tsume and Naruto have confessed their love to each other, though sadly they both know that they can't be together – yet. Some ROOT ANBU attacked them afterwards, and Naruto sent the council and Danzo a little give, which has reawakened the Will Of Fire in the Third Hokage. Team Seven can't eat breakfast for their little test, well; one of the team knows that he can…

"Thanks Old Man! See youse around!" Naruto called to Ayame and her dad as he left enough money on the counter to cover his 34 bowls of ramen. He shunshined to training ground seven to see Sakura asking Sasuke out again. When he arrived, Sasuke walked over to Naruto;

"Naruto, where did you learn that technique, I de-" Naruto couldn't be bothered arguing with Sasuke over this so he simply snapped his fingers, silencing Sasuke. It was funny watching Sasuke move his mouth only for no words to come out.

"You can't talk, deal with it." And sat back against the tree, Louise would wake him if Sasuke tried anything. It was in fact one of Naruto's favourite jutsu, he made it himself in fact. Because he made it himself, he knew how to flow the chakra perfectly and so he didn't need any handsigns – like the rest of the jutsu he knew – but, it looked way cooler when he clicked his fingers.

After a short nap, he was pecked on the side of the head by Dante.

"Wake up Naruto… the band of fools is staring without you..." he drawled. Naruto dusted himself off and went over to Kakashi, who was talking to Sasuke and Sakura.

"So nice of you to join us Naruto." Naruto was surprised at Kakashi, not the fact that it was said, but that it was _Kakashi_ who said it, he was an hour late.

"Anyway, your task is to get a bell each from me, whoever doesn't get a bell by 12, goes back to the academy."

"But Kakashi-sensei, there are only two bells." Sakura pointed out. As Kakashi was explaining what they had to do, he noticed that Sasuke wasn't talking, _crap; I forgot to take it off!_ He slowly and silently snapped his fingers behind his back, _there, now he can't complain_.

"Ready? GO!" Sasuke and Sakura both jumped into the bushes and split off, Kakashi was wondering why Naruto was there.

"I did say start, didn't I?" Naruto sighed.

"The purpose of this exercise is to promote teamwork… the genin would have gotten both bells and either split one, or refused to become genin." Kakashi was amazed that the demon had figured it out, though he was curious as to why he paused and moved a bit.

"I may have been able to convince Sakura to help me, but I never would have been able to convince Sasuke. Sakura may have followed Sasuke, and he would have used her somehow to get the bells – I was more or less cut out from the beginning. We pass." As he said this he held up the two bells.

"How did you get them?! You haven't moved at… when you swayed… how fast are you?" Kakashi felt a sense of begrudging respect beginning to form for the demon.

"Fast enough… however; I assume you were also going to use this time to test out skills? If you want to, I will comply." Kakashi was getting slightly annoyed at the way he was talking down to him… but he _did_ have Kakashi figured out. Kakashi nodded to Naruto.

"First up, taijutsu." He then charged at Naruto. For the next two minutes Kakashi tried in vain to try and land a blow on Naruto, but he either redirected or dodged all of the blows with contemptuous ease. Kakashi was beginning to work up a sweat, while Naruto was still breathing normally.

"O…Okay, genjutsu." He panted out. He did a few handsigns.

"**Deathbed!**" Kakashi expected for Naruto to fall down and go unconscious – he was supposed to be getting slowly impaled on a bed of nails! Naruto shook his head and flung his hands out and clapped them together in front of him.

"**Perfect Darkness!**" Kakashi's sight then grew black, after trying to break out of it for 20 seconds, he lifted his bandana and activated his sharingan – he still couldn't see him then! Naruto then dispelled the genjutsu.

"Last up is ninjutsu I take it?" Kakashi was about to protest saying that genin couldn't do elemental jutsu… _but the demon is surprising_… so instead he nodded his head.

"I know four earth style jutsu, four lightning style jutsu and some of my own jutsu." Kakashi couldn't believe his ears!

"You already know your affinities AND jutsu for them? That's impossible! Let alone create your own!" Naruto merely sighed and created 8 shadow clones. He held up one finger.

"Head-hunter." One clone immediately sunk into the ground, sped out to Kakashi, grabbed his ankles and pulled him underground until only his head was above ground. He held up a second finger.

"Earth Wall." The next clone then walked to Kakashi's head and raised a hand, the earth coming with it. 3 fingers.

"Earth Rising Spears" the third clone then did a grabbing and pulling motion with both hands to where Kakashi was standing. All around him, lightning fast spears shot out of the ground surrounding Kakashi – if he moved he would have been stabbed. 4 fingers.

"STOP! I understand! But how can you do it without handsigns? Most jonin can't even do that." Kakashi asked – he could only do that with a few of his! Naruto dispelled his clones, the spears and helped Kakashi up.

"What does it say in the first page of the Ninja Handbook? _Deception is the best weapon at a ninja's disposal_. The rest? Well, you know what they say, practice make perfect." Kakashi was stunned, did the demon have them all fooled? He was doing advanced jonin techniques, and he put it down to practice? _Maybe the demon isn't so bad after all… he's definitely powerful_.

"Sasuke is over there, Sakura is 20 metres behind him, I'll be at the logs." Kakashi nodded and was off. Sakura failed miserably in all three courses, fainting when she was Sasuke with kunai in him. Sasuke did well in the taijutsu, and managed a fireball jutsu.

"Alright team, you all pass, we'll meet here again tomorrow for our first assignment, dismissed." Before Sasuke or Sakura had a chance to talk to Naruto, he shunshined away to meet up with Kiba.

**Note: Lemon that isn't a lemon coming up**

Naruto knocked on the Inuzuka door as he walked in.

"Hello! Kiba, Tsume… anyone home?" he went into the kitchen and sat down, he knew Hana would still be working, and there was a fair chance that Tsume would probably be out with Kuromaru. He was about to sit down and wait when he heard a strange noise coming from upstairs, like a cross between a scream and… something else. He shunshined upstairs and heard it again, a cross between a scream and a… low moan? Coming from the bathroom? _Those perverts, I'll kill that rapist!_

"N-Naruto…" _she needs my help! I'm coming Tsume! _He barged into the bathroom to see something he never would have expected.

"T-Tsume… are you…o…kay?" was all he got out. With his scythe over his head about to mercilessly slaughter whoever was defiling Tsume, only to see that it was herself. His eyes roamed her body, since she was in the shower, her hair that was normally spiky cascaded down her shoulders, and on top of her DD-cup breasts. His eyes then saw that she was pleasuring herself. _She's doing…that... over…me?_ That was his last thought before passing out.

Tsume was mortified! _FUCK! He saw me fingering myself, to him no less! He's probably ashamed._ Then her feral side kicked in, as she looked over his prone body and saw that his scythe wasn't the only 'large weapon' that he wielded. _NO, BAD THOUGHTS! Wait till he's old enough! I mean..._ she brought herself from her feral thoughts, got dressed and heaved Naruto into Kiba's room and onto his bed.

Naruto woke up a few minutes later and wiped his face, still somewhat groggy.

"Hhhmm, Tsume... I just had the best dream…" then he fully woke up.

"T-Tsume?! I didn't mean that, PLEASE don't kill me!-"  
"Naruto! I'm sorry you had to see that-"

They both looked at each other confused.

"What?" they said in unison.

"I meant-"  
"well, you see-" they both tried to explain at the same time.

"Ladies first" Naruto countered. Tsume tried to start, and then looked at him.

"Wait, you _don't_ find that disgusting?" she asked quizzically, Naruto was taken aback.

"Why would I? I think you're beautiful, and besides… we all have our urges…." As he said this he slowly looked away.

"So… you've done that, over me?" Naruto didn't know how to answer.

"I can't answer that without changing your opinion of me… but, yes." At this point, Naruto couldn't look her in the eye. Tsume actually took it as a compliment.

"But don't you think that im old, or ugly." She asked ashamedly.

"What!? How could I think that? You're not old at all, and how can you call yourself ugly? You're beautiful." Tsume, like a lot of women, was insecure about how she looked and looked into Naruto's eyes for any sign of deceit, but found none.

"Personally, I was surprised when I found out you had kids, when I first met you, you looked like a teenager, and now, you look like you're barely in your 20's."

"I, I really look that good to you?"

"No, not to me, to everyone… to me, you are a goddess, or an angel." She was truly touched by this.

"Thank you Naruto, I didn't know you thought that about me." He scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Well, y'kno… actually, if we're being honest… sure, I've killed hundreds of people, and I've matured a lot for my age… but you were the first person I ever saw naked… like, I can conjure up images in my mind, but that's just guesswork, I didn't think it would be that good, he he." Then it got a bit awkward for Tsume.

"But, you do know about sex, right I mean…"

"Of course I do, I just… don't have any _experience_ in it." Tsume laughed and patted Naruto's leg.

"Just you wait stud, there's time enough for that later." And winked at him.

"S-Stud…Later?!"

"I think so, when you were passed out I noticed that you carry _two _large scythes. That's big for your age." Naruto was feeling really uncomfortable right now.

"WOAH! You looked at me naked?!" Tsume laughed at him again.

"I didn't need to see you naked, it was rather the opposite, when _you_ saw _me _naked, you stood to attention." Of course, her feral side took over then.

"And when you turn 18? Oh ho, I am making you _mine_. Now c'mon, you're in Kiba's room, we need to get out of here, otherwise he'll think something's up." Naruto readily agreed and clasped his scythe to his back and went into the kitchen. Their previous conversation over (thankfully for Naruto) they talked about whatever was on their minds, when Kiba walked in. he was completely pale white and what looked like vengeance in his eyes, then he saw him, the man he wanted to kill.

"Naruto" he seethed through clenched teeth. _Oh crap, how did he find out!_ Naruto began to pale at the thought of Kiba finding out about what just happened between him and Tsume.

"I REALLY don't like snakes." Naruto began to laugh, until Kiba lunged at him and they got into a fistfight on the floor – Kiba would punch Naruto and Naruto would laugh. Eventually, Kiba got his rage out and helped Naruto up.

"Is anyone going to explain to me what just happened, or do I have to guess?" Tsume asked. Naruto then began to recount what happened the day before, and Kiba told them what happened, suffice to say, he would never look at a scarf or snake the same way again.

Over the next two weeks all three genin teams did D-rank missions to boost teamwork, for team seven, it usually involved either Naruto doing all of the work, or Naruto being left out completely. Sure, Kakashi respected – no, was _aware_ – of Naruto's strength, but that didn't mean that he liked him, he was still the demon who took away his sensei. They were searching throughout Konoha for the Fire Daimyo's wife's cat, Tora, Sasuke had tried to ambush it several times, resulting in a much scratched up face. When Naruto found him, all he had to do was hold out his hand and Tora came to him, much to the distaste of Sasuke. They returned to the Hokage's office where Naruto spoke to the Daimyo's wife:

"Excuse me ma'am. Tora might not run away all the time if you didn't crush him in you r hugs – try and remember that he's a cat, not a person. They prefer their loved shown to them by patting them like this, see?" He began to stroke Tora, producing a soft purring.

"Why thank you young man! I had never thought of that." As she walked away, patting her cat, he could have sworn he saw the cat wink, _thank you!_

"Now, for your next mission… the guild of merchants would like one of their members houses painted… you could also walk councilmen Homura dog… alternatively-" he was cut off by Sasuke banging his hand on the table.

"Enough! I am an Uchiha, these D-rank missions are below me, I demand-" The Hokage was about to go off his nut at Sasuke before Naruto concentrated his chakra and forced him to the floor (AN: remember, Bleach spiritual pressure – I love those scenes!)

"Know your place! He is the Hokage! You demand nothing from him! You should feel honoured that he is talking to you, your name means absolute piss to him!" Naruto was fine with Sasuke being a fuck-knuckle, but NO-ONE talks to the Hokage like that! The Hokage nodded to Naruto, who in turn released his chakra.

"Thank you Naruto. Sasuke, the point of D-rank missions is to build teamwork… I could give you a C-rank mission, if the Jonin sensei agreed with it." He saw Kakashi debate about it.

"Lord Hokage, they are strong as individuals, but their teamwork need a little work, a c rank mission would prove an excellent opportunity to build on it."

"Very well. Your mission is to escort the engineer Tazuna to his home in the land of waves and protect him while he finishes building the bridge there. Bring him in!" he called to his secretary. Tazuna walked in and sized them up while they did the same. Tazuna was a tanned man of about 50, with a funny-looking straw hat and bottle of beer in his hand.

"This bunch of runts is supposed to protect me? The one with the scythe looks a little dangerous, but that's it. I bet none of you have even killed anyone, have you?" It was the Hokage who replied.

"Actually Naruto has killed before, he's the one with the dangerous one with the scythe. Regardless, you have nothing to worry about, Kakashi here is a Jonin. Your life is in good hands." This shocked them, Naruto had killed?

_"How could that pest have killed anyone, and before me! I must have more power!"  
"Yeah right! No one can beat Sasuke!"  
"Naruto has killed?... just how strong are you?"  
"So the runt's killed, I guess I could have worse bodyguards."_

"Alright everyone, we'll meet at the west gate in one hour, move out."

Naruto arrived a few minutes early to find Sakura fawning over Sasgay, Sagay in turn was brooding. Whereas Tazuna was having a drink whilst looking at some blueprints, Naruto beckoned Tazuna over to him.

"This is bigger than a C-rank mission, what's going on?"

"What are you talking about? I just need you to protect me – and the other builders – from bandits."

"You're lying, but don't worry, the mission will still go ahead." Tazuna sighed in resignation.

"Was it really that easy to tell?" Naruto smiled at him under his mask;

"No, you even had the Hokage fooled; it's just something that I can do." Tazuna sighed again and took a swig from his bottle, he then asked:

"Hey kid, Naruto, did he really mean it when he said you've killed before?" this caused Naruto a look of pain.

"Yes, I have killed many times before, and I have seen loved ones cut down before me." Tazuna was shocked that someone so young has seen so much death. Before he could comment, Kakashi turned up and they set out. However, the conversation brought back memories of his training with Itachi:

_"Naruto, the next part of your training will do a lot of things to you: it will protect you from most genjutsu, it will make you invincible to mental attacks, as well as acting as a trigger for one of your strongest powers – but to make something indestructible, you must deconstruct it to the smallest piece possible. I am going to take you past the point of insanity, for a while you will question what is real and what is not, and it will make you despise me." Naruto was getting a little scared. _

_"But ANBU sensei, what could be so bad that it will make me insane? Or that I'll despise you for?"_

_"I can't tell you, but I will show you, but there is one thing that you need before I do this; this process has a very low success rate, there is a very big chance you will go insane – but I believe that you can make it through. Think of your strongest and best memory, one you can conjure up down to the smallest detail, and hold onto it – otherwise you will lose yourself in your mind, now. Get ready!" Naruto tried his hardest to think of a memory – but it was like looking when someone says don't look, then he found it: the day he met Tsume, and how he felt. He looked at Itachi again but something was off, the sky was blood red, he was chained to a slab and upright, and when Itachi spoke, it was as though he was in a trance._

_"Naruto, you are in the world of _Tsukuyomi_, for the next seventy two hours, time and space are at my command." That was the last coherent thing he remembered; for Itachi ripped his mind open, getting each and every positive memory and defiling them, making the Hokage, Kiba, Hana and Tsume explain in great depth how they deceived him, hated every moment with him, and despised him to his very core. He even had a scene play out where Naruto confessed how he felt to Tsume, only for her to stab him in the heart with a katana, twist it, spit in his face, and say that she could never love a demon. _

_But that wasn't the worst part, not by far. In the last hour, Itachi explained that he needed a trigger to attain his strongest power, and until he could do that… as Naruto was chained to the slab, each person who was ever nice to him was flayed, skin was ripped from muscle, muscle was torn from bone, and the bone was sheared from the soul. But that wasn't the worst part; he had Tsume raped right before his eyes again and again, whilst he could do nothing, the whole while she never stopped looking him in the eyes whilst crying and shouting HELP ME! Naruto couldn't take it anymore… his mind was ripped apart, he finally descended into insanity, that scene playing over and over again, until they were don't with her, until he heard it – words that Naruto would never forget; as Tsume looked at him from her broken and violated body: "Why? Why Naruto? Why didn't you save me? I thought you loved me?" That was it… he would burn the world down around him before he saw her cry unless it was from joy, he would kill everyone that had ever lived, before he heard her say that again. All he could feel after that could only be described as hell, and fire. He couldn't tell when one changed to the other, only that they blended together to form a cacophony of agony, fire rushed through his veins, his skin was peeled from his flesh and he was broken down until he was only a soul, a thought, until he was reconstructed, going through that terror all over again until he was back on the slab. He saw Tsume was still being violated, and saw her eyes… those eyes that no one should ever have. And with a cry that ripped the blood red sky asunder, he tore himself from the slab, but the moment his foot touched the ground, everything played in reverse, all of the pain and torment being taken back until he was at the start of the seventy two hours, he stood upon the ground when all those who he ever loved materialised out of nothing, and hugged him. As they drew away and vanished, all that was left was Tsume._

_"See? None of this ever happened, and so long as you are strong, and fight for what is right, none of it ever will, you are loved Naruto Uzumaki." To go from the extremes of wanting to commit suicide over and over again, to this feeling of ultimate love was too much for him, and he passed out._

_He awoke in the forest to see Itachi standing over him._

_"So, you insane?" he asked, and no matter how much Naruto had to kill him right now, he had to smile, then he turned serious._

_"Itachi… you're right, I do despise you, and I can never forgive you for what you just did. I can't comprehend how I feel right now, I want to kill you, I want to see if Tsume is still alive, but, above all, I feel… strong." Itachi smiled at him._

_"And do you know why you are so strong right now?" Naruto shook his head._

_"It is because – well, aside from what I just put you through – you were strong because you wanted to protect the people precious to you, that strength – your execution form – is true strength" Itachi explained._

_"Executioner form? And what do you mean, true strength?"_

_"Their own in the same, you're judge form, is strength. You can call on it at any time, whereas your executioner form is _true_ strength – __**your**__ strength Naruto. You can't call on it; it will call you, when in the deepest pit of your heart needs strength." Naruto was amazed; he could get stronger than his Judge form?_

_"ANBU-sensei? If I have my Judge Of Death form, and my Executioner form, what do you have?"_

_"I have my Harbinger of Death form, and my Prophet form."_

_"They must be strong… can I see your harbinger form?"_

_"No Naruto, you go into your judge form when justice is needed, for one reason or another. I can only go into my harbinger form if there is a lot of death, or if death is about to happen." _

Naruto would have stayed in the memory for a while longer, until he noticed a puddle on the road. _It hasn't rained in months… genjutsu!_ He was going to get the scythe off his back until Kakashi stopped him and whispered in his ear:

"We need to know if they go for us, or Tazuna." Although Naruto already knew the answer, he nodded in agreement. Two figures lunged out of the puddle at Kakashi, they wrapped him in a chain that went between them and pulled, tearing Kakashi to pieces.

"Haha, one down, one to go, Gozu! Get the bridge builder!"

"Right Meizu!" Meizu charged at Naruto, and in a speed faster than the eye can see, he grabbed his scythe with his left hand (across his body, the haft was above his right shoulder) and sliced diagonally across his body, cutting Meizu in two. Gozu saw this and charged at Naruto.

"You little bastard! I'll kill you!" While he ran at Naruto, Kakashi jumped out of the trees and knocked out Gozu with a flying kick. He was surprised that Naruto could kill, not only lightning fast, but he didn't flinch either! Like he did this on a daily basis!

"Efficient work, Naruto… I don't suppose you'd be willing to carry Sakura, would you?" she spewed when she saw Kakashi 'die', but when she saw Naruto bisect Meizu, she fainted. He simply spun his scythe over his hand, clasped it on his back and hefted Sakura over his shoulder – much like a sack of potatoes.

[**Insert scene where Tazuna tells them what is actually going on]**

"Tazuna, you purposely deceived us, this is at least a B-rank mission, if not an A-rank. All logic dictates that we go back to the village and assign a different team."

"No. Kakashi, Gato needs to be dealt with before he harms anymore innocents. He needs to feel the divine wrath of justice."

"…Hmmm… well Tazuna, it seems we shall continue the mission, so thank Naruto. Naruto, I have given it some thought, although it is your first C-rank mission, I am putting you in charge. Let's go." _Was I really mistaken in thinking he was a demon? Minato-sensei, what should I do?_ He decided that he would let this run its course, and make up his mind at the end of the mission.

"What! Why should Naruto lead? I am an Uchiha!" Sasuke shouted, but it was Tazuna who spoke up.

"Well, it was Naruto who killed that guy; he didn't stand there and shit himself, nor faint." He winked at Naruto who nodded his head in respect.

"Fool! What do you know! I wasn't ready, that's all!"

"And Naruto was. Don't insult the client either, he's the one paying us remember?" Kakashi said in defence of Tazuna. _And was I wrong in favouring Sasuke too?_

They walked for a while before Sakura shakily regained consciousness, but when she saw all of the blood on Naruto's coat, she fainted again. As she did this, Naruto noticed an incoming chakra signature of about jonin level, _finally, some fun!_ The evil side of him thought.

"Kakashi, we have a guest" Naruto told his sensei as he placed Sakura on the ground and unclasped his scythe. _How does the fool know that? He isn't even from a clan… how is he so powerful?!_ Sasuke thought.

"Sasuke, MOVE!" Naruto shouted, Sasuke was going to insult him, but then saw the giant sword coming at him from nowhere he quickly dodged it.

"Well well well, if it isn't 'Sharingan Kakashi'. When I saw Gozu on the side of the road, and Meizu cut up like that, I knew it had to be somebody good!" a voice spoke from the now readily-appearing mist. A man emerged from the mist; he had ninja shoes, purple pants, a bare muscular chest, what looked like cow-hide patter leg warmers on his arms and he wore his bandana on the side of his head.

"Zabuza Momochi, Demon Of The Mist. Actually, it was one of my genin who did that, Naruto Uzumaki." He looked at Naruto and nodded at him.

"Don't screw this up Naruto, but he's all yours." Naruto was surprised that Kakashi would let him do this, but he didn't want to look the gift horse in the mouth.

"Alright, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, protect Tazuna and Sakura." Kakashi settled into a defensive position and complied with Naruto's order; Sasuke didn't, however. How dare a clan less moron order an Uchiha around! Sasuke could and _would_ take care of Zabuza whilst Naruto would defend. As he ran at Zabuza, Naruto sighed and lanced the haft of his scythe into Sasuke's sternum, winding him badly.

"Obey the orders of your superiors; you are too weak to fight. Alright Zabuza, let's do this, oh, and tell your friend who is hiding in the trees over there to come out as well." Zabuza didn't know whether to laugh or swear.

"Hahaha, you're telling me that a little pipsqueak like you, killed Meizu? Haku, get down here, he saw through the ruse." A person about jumped down with a Kiri hunter nin mask on wearing a sea-green dress clutching senbon (AN: would you call it a dress?).

"If there's one thing I can tell you about Naruto: he is the world's most unpredictable ninja. Try not to underestimate him." Kakashi voiced this from his location near Tazuna, Sasuke and Sakura.

"Haku, kill him." Zabuza commanded Haku, so that he was free to go after Kakashi.

"**Perfect Darkness!**" Naruto shouted as he clapped his hands in front of him, reducing Haku's visibility to zero. Zabuza thought that their battle was still raging on, and so was confused when Kakashi put his kunai away and got out a little orange book.

"You mock me Kakashi! Heh, you're just an easier target now." Kakashi kept his air of calmness and slowly turned the page.

"Nope… I'm not your opponent. He's already disabled Haku… I don't mean to help an enemy, but you might want to duck." He said all of this whilst reading his book; Zabuza was going to call him crazy until he felt that instinct tug at him, an instinct honed after years of sword fighting that screamed MOVE! He ducked under a horizontal slash from Naruto's scythe and went to slice him in two, only having to block another slash from Naruto! Just how fast was he?

"You're good pipsqueak, not many people give me a challenge, let alone genin." Their fierce kenjutsu battle lasted for a few minutes; unfortunately, it was taking more and more concentration from Naruto to keep fighting whilst holding Haku under his genjutsu. Naruto dodged an overhead slash from Zabuza and was going to counter strike when Zabuza didn't bother with his sword, and instead threw his shoulder into Naruto, breaking his concentration and freeing Haku.

"Zabuza, if we don't get out of here now, you will die! I am no longer under his genjutsu, so all of his focus is on you. We need to leave, now!" Zabuza hated to leave, if he wasn't at his full focus then, he would have been actually fighting for his life! How he would have loved that battle!

Zabuza did a horizontal slash at Naruto who jumped out of range; Haku predicted this and threw some senbon at him. Haku grabbed the wounded Zabuza and was about to shunshin out of there before Zabuza stopped him.

"The battle isn't over, Naruto Uzumaki."

"No it isn't, Zabuza Momochi." As they shunshined out of there, Naruto thought about what Haku said; _sure, after Haku broke out of my genjutsu I would have been fighting Zabuza at full focus, but could I have defeated him without going into my Judge form? I really don't know…_

"Naruto, I'm not even going to ask how you just fought a Jonin and Chunin team… good work, let's go." That praise was more than Naruto expected, but he let it drop and they resumed the trip to Tazuna's house in silence.

"…Yep, this is my house, hey Tsunami! You home?" the door opened and it revealed a woman who was in her late 20's with a kind face.

"Hello, I'm Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, you must be the ninja he was talking about." Kakashi directed one of his famous eye smiles at her.

"Hello Miss Tsunami, I am Kakashi Hatake, this is; Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno." Tsunami rushed over to the pale Sakura,

"Oh my! Is she going to be alright" she asked Kakashi worriedly.

"Yeah, just give her some time; she saw her fist kill today. It can be tough on some kunoichi, like Sakura here." He didn't say this with disdain, but factually.

"You three kids saw your first kill?" she asked with shock.

"Don't forget, they're ninja now – they need to get used to this. Naruto, how are you feeling?" Tsunami then looked at Naruto and wondered what happened.

"Do you feel sick to? Because I can-" she was interrupted by a short, but not unkind, laugh from Naruto.

"I'm sorry for the laugh, but your kindness can be better directed towards these two." He then pointed to the blood stains on his jacket,

"I was the one who killed… we should probably see if Sakura needs a hand." Tsunami couldn't get over the fact that he could brush off killing so easily.

"Y-You killed? Are you sure you are alright? I've heard that killing for the first time can be tough and…"

"Tsunami, this wasn't Naruto's first kill. Off of this topic, we were wondering if we could stay here for the duration of our mission. Please." Kakashi asked her, but she still couldn't understand that Naruto had killed before, but she was broken from her thoughts by his question.

"Hmm? Oh, yes! Of course you can! It would be my pleasure! This way." She showed them around the house before they settled in for the night. Naruto was about to head out the door when Kakashi started to talk to him.

"Going for some late night training? Good, 'cause you and I need to have a chat." Naruto nodded and went outside, thinking it was about how he held his own against Zabuza. When they were far enough away from the house they stopped walking and began to talk.

"Naruto, I wanted to apologise." _Apologise? I didn't expect this._

"I know that I haven't treated you fairly, and had a few… prejudices against you. But that stops now. I'm going to treat you as a member of Team Seven, with equality and respect." Naruto smiled at Kakashi, so that's what it was.

"Kakashi, if this is about your promise to my father; you have nothing to worry about."

"H-How do you know about that? And your father? How do you know who he is?" these were S-ranked secrets that weren't going to be announced until he was a chunin!

"I've known about my father since I was six, and as for your promise to protect me? Well let's be honest, as a child, you failed me miserably." The truth made Kakashi look to the ground in shame.

"BUT, letting me fight Zabuza back there, and simply apologising to me now… has redeemed you in both my eyes and my fathers." Kakashi couldn't believe his ears!

"Just like that?... why?"

"Because, you apologised to me… it's as simple as that really. But, about training me – and I mean no disrespect when I say this – but there is little you could teach me. Train Sakura so she can rightfully call herself a kunoichi, and train Sasuke too, so that he can hopefully come out of his 'need for power phase', although this is sadly doubtful. There isn't much you can do for me, but there is a lot you can do for them, BOTH of them." Kakashi understood the wisdom in Naruto's words, and wondered if he would do the same were the shoe on the other foot. He nodded to Naruto and went back inside a changed man, whilst Naruto needed to have a talk with Zabuza and Haku, but didn't have the first clue where to look, so he settled on meditating deep in the forest.

**Next Morning:**

Haku was walking through the forest when she came across the meditating form of Naruto. _I can use this chance to kill him… but, he _did_ let us go earlier._

"If you were going to kill me, you may have tried to be a little quieter for a start." Haku put a shocked look on her face.

"I have no idea what you are talking about! How could you insinuate something like that?" She asked with a hurt tone. Naruto opened his eyes and stood up; he looked her in the eyes.

"Simple, first off, you have the same chakra signature as the girl I fought yesterday – me being caught unaware would be a good time to strike. And, you are lying." Haku thought about striking now, but she remembered how fast he was in the last moments of his fight with Zabuza.

"Well… yes it's me, what do you plan to do now?" She was expecting him to kill her, or worse, have his way with her.

"Well, I'd like it if I could talk to Zabuza, and you. I have a proposition to make, and we need to sort some things out as well."

"You… want to talk? Not kill us, but talk?" Haku didn't get it, he was about to kill Zabuza just the day before, how could he just want to talk?

"Well, yeah. And if you are wondering about the fact that I was going to fight Zabuza to the death, he attacked me, not the other way around, I was just protecting the client." They agreed to meet back there in a few hours.

Kakashi was eating breakfast with Sasuke, Sakura, Tazuna and Tsunami when Naruto walked in.

"So, how did the training go?" Kakashi asked Naruto as he took a place at the table.

"Yeah, it went pretty good, did I miss anything?" They talked for a while about basic things, making small talk and generally tried to get to know each other, the conversation soon went to Gato and the things he had done to the Land of Waves. Eventually, Naruto noticed a picture on the wall.

"Hey, who's that with Tsunami and Inari?"

**[Insert story about Kaiza]**

"You're all going to die" a small voice said from the end of the table. Naruto saw Inari and asked:

"Well yeah, everyone dies – we're not really going to escape it." _Unless you're like me of course._

"How can you be so calm! Gato's going to kill you all! There's nothing you can do about it!"

"Simple; death smiles at us all, all man can hope to do is smile back. Otherwise, we turn into shitty people who have to complain at every bad thing that happens to them in life, face it kid, no matter the situation, someone _always_ has it worse than you."

"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE !" Inari shouted at Naruto. Naruto calmly put his spoon down and drew his seat away from the table, walked over to Inari, grabbed him by the collar and held him against the wall.

"Listen here, boy. For the first 5 years of my life I had no one, I lived on the streets and in the forests living off of peoples scraps, I had no family and no friends. Everyone in my village would throw stones at me, insult me and make my life a living hell – all because of something that I had no control over. Do _you_ know what it's like, to be beaten to an inch of your life every year on your birthday for the first 8 years of your life? DO YOU!? NO! So sit down and shut up. People always have someone in a worse situation than them, I know someone had it worse than me, and they know that someone has it worse than them. So be grateful for what you have." He let Inari to the floor, excused himself and walked outside. Inari started crying and ran to his room, yet again, Tsunami was shocked at him.

"Kakashi is what he said true?" he looked shamefully at the table, not meeting her gaze.

"Yes… Naruto has had a hard life because of something that happened to him a long time ago, I can't say what. But it ruined his childhood, if you could even call it that." Sakura knew he had it bad, but not that bad…_ well… he probably did something to deserve it, anyway…_ Sasuke just looked down, and when no one could see his face, he smiled.

Soon after breakfast, Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke found Naruto training with his scythe.

"Hey Naruto! We're going to do some training, c'mon!" Kakashi called over to him.

"Alright team, today we're going to be tree walking." This earnt him a sceptical look from Sakura.

"But, Kakashi sensei, you did say tree _walking_ right? How do we do that?" Kakashi eye smiled at her.

"With training of course! And you do it like this." He then proceeded to walk vertically up the tree until he was hanging upside down, by his feet. Naruto walked up the tree and spoke to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, I have already mastered this and the water walking exercise, do you want me to go to the bridge?" _like what you said last night, I can't teach you much, but I can teach them, this way I have more time to focus on them individually. Thanks Naruto_

"That's an excellent idea Naruto." he nodded his head and shunshined to the bridge. Sasuke seethed at him.

"Kakashi, where is Naruto going?" Sasuke demanded. Kakashi chose to feign ignorance.

"What was that Sasuke? I can't hear you from all the way down there. Come up here so we can talk." _Hehe, I'm going to have fun with these two_.

**Meanwhile:**

"Hey Tazuna! How's it going?" Naruto asked after shunshining to the bridge, scaring Tazuna.

"Jeez kid! You nearly gave me a heart attack! The bridge is coming along well, but it could be a little quicker, if we had a full roster of workers, this thing could be done in a three weeks, not five." This brought an idea to Naruto's mind.

"How many workers have dropped off?" Naruto asked, Tazuna scratched his head.

"Well, I think about… fifty men have stopped work for fear of Gato. Why?" Naruto just chuckled and cracked his knuckles. He did a handsign and 50 shadow clones popped into existence. He grabbed one and gave him a hard hat.

"You're in charge here. Tazuna, I give you 50 me's! They are fine workers, strong too, just don't let too many of them get bored at once…"

"Wh-Why thank you kid! Now we can have the bridge done sooner, but what will you do?" Naruto winked at him.

"I've got an errand to run, but let's just keep that between us, shall we?" and shunshined into the forest.

"So you're finally here… lets finish out fight Naruto!" Zabuza shouted as he ran for Naruto.

"Wait! I'm not here to fight you! I just want to talk." He reasoned to Zabuza, who just laughed it off.

"Talk? Ha! We can talk when we're dead!" Naruto thought about this,_ well, it WOULD be quicker_.

"If you insist..." He summoned his blood-red scythe into his hands and dashed off at lightning speed towards Zabuza, sword and scythe clanging out into the forest.

"Zabuza, I'll give you one last chance, stop this, I only want to talk."

"No. no more talking!" he shouted as he swiped at Naruto.

"Haku! Trust me on this!" Naruto shouted to her, _why do I have to trust him?_ She thought. Then what she saw made her blood turn cold; Naruto scythed one of Zabuza's legs off, then an arm, then his head.

"ZABUZA!" Naruto just spun his scythe and unsummoned it,

"Haku it-" she wouldn't listen to his words, he killed Zabuza, the one person who gave her life worth. She charged at him with senbon in hand, but before she could do anything, he materialised in front of her and grabbed her mouth in an iron grip.

"Listen! It's going to be okay." He hissed at her, then let go.

"Sorry, I don't like hurting women, now, stand back." Her body was numb, she had no reason to live now, and the one person she wanted to kill could easily take her life.

"**Shinigami Art: Space-Time Jutsu! Reverse!**" he then out splayed both hands towards Zabuza, and Haku could only describe it as a miracle – all of his wounds bent back to each other, nerve found nerve, bone joined bone, muscle reattached to muscle and skin met skin. Zabuza took a deep breath as though he was seconds from drowning and shakily looked at Naruto, his feature paling.

"W-What…what are you?" he quivered; Naruto held out his hand and smiled.

"You are the Demon Of The Mist, think of me as the Demon Of The Leaves." Zabuza fearfully took his hand and stood up.

"You… killed me, but I'm alive… how?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I brought you back from the dead. You don't ask how, be happy that it was." Zabuza didn't know what to say, but he did hug Haku back when she was crying in his arms. A minute later she stopped crying and re-composed herself.

"Now, since you died, and I take it you are a man of your word, can we PLEASE talk now?" Zabuza laughed at that.

"Wait, the only reason you killed me, was to bring me back? Ohhhh that's good… what did you want to talk about?"

"Well first I wanted to know why you attacked us, you don't hold a grudge against any of us as far as I know, and we wouldn't make great hostages."

"Gato was going to pay us 500,000 ryo for taking out the bridge builder, and we needed the money."

"You _needed_ the money?" Zabuza grew a little uneasy about this.

"I suppose I can tell you, we're part of the rebellion in the Village hidden in the Mist, we were going to use the money to hire mercenaries to our cause.""

"Rebellion? What's happening over there?" Zabuza was taken aback by this.

"You mean, you don't know? Well, the current Mizukage (Yagura) has become hell-bent on attaining power, and holds the land in an iron grip. I can respect his want for power, and I can understand how and why he slaughters all those who hold a kekkai genkai, he is leading the Mist to its death. That is why I tried to kill him, then I found Haku and was training him – to be the perfect weapon." Naruto shot Haku a glance _he doesn't know?_

"Why does he hate those who hold a kekkai genkai?" Naruto asked, and out the corner of his eye he saw Haku mouth 'ILL TELL HIM LATER'

"He wants power, and he sees those who have a bloodline as powerful. Unlike in Konoha where bloodline users are treated with respect and are seen as equal, in Kiri, there is superstition and fear surrounding them, people fear what they can't understand. Although I can't say that it is all bad, it led me to Haku here. The rebellion is being led by Mei Terumi, she herself has a kekkai genkai, we could have used the money to buy mercenaries and weapons… we're fighting a losing battle." Zabuza angrily concluded. Naruto thought for a while;

"Hhhmmmm… meet me back here tomorrow at the same time, I think I could help." Zabuza was amazed, He resurrected him, and he was now going to support the rebellion?

"Kid, you really are one-of-a-king, d'y'know that?" Naruto smiled and shunshined to the bridge, meeting his clone commander and Tazuna.

"So, how has the progress been so far? They haven't given you too much trouble have they?"

"No, not at all. They've been a godsend actually, with this many workers, I've sure will have it done soon!" Tazuna replied gladly, Naruto nodded to him and sat down on a nearby crate. He pulled out a brush and inkwell and wrote on a scroll, sealed it and gave it to Dante, with the instruction:

"Get this to the Hokage as fast as you can." Dante merely cawed at him and went into his Judge form, speeding off towards Konoha faster than sound.

Dante got to the outskirts of Konoha and went back into his normal bird mode. He flew to the Hokage's office and was about to knock on the window sill (it was open) when he saw the Hokage reading a small orange book and giggling perversely.

"Hehehe… 'I couldn't find the soap, could you scrub me down?' heheh, if only this happened in real life" he sighed. Dante silently flew to his shoulder and drawled;

"Yes… if only"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" The Hokage fell to the floor while Dante cawed and squawked in a bird version of laughter. The Hokage eventually regained his seat, and when he realised that it wasn't Kurenai, or Yugao, or any of his female staff actually; he sighed with relief.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack Dante! What is it Naruto wants?" The Hokage had met Dante a few times before and knew that he was Naruto's, and he knew that he was only ever sent when Naruto needed something. Dante dropped the scroll onto the Hokage's desk.

"I take it he wants a reply." The Hokage's mouth dropped the more he read his letter.

_Lord Hokage,_

_We have been at the bridge builder's house for a day now, and I have good news: Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice (Haku) were sent to kill us – this is probably an A-rank mission now – but through methods of my own, I have convinced them to stop this. The Land Of Waves is under the iron grip of the large shipping magnate, Gato, he was also the one who sent Zabuza after us. I am going to kill him myself; he needs to be punished for his misdeeds. The reason Zabuza hired himself out, was because he was going to be paid half a million, which would greatly help the rebellion against the Mizukage. After talking with Tazuna, with the assistance of some of my shadow clones the bridge can be completed this side of three weeks; I request permission to join Zabuza, Haku and the rebellion for the remainder duration of our current mission – I intend to kill the Mizukage. I know you are thinking that that is impossible, but trust me on this._

_Naruto Uzumaki._

Sarutobi sighed when he read this, after a few minutes deliberation he gave Dante another scroll that contained his permission and a form to give to Kakashi, and a message for Naruto.

Naruto was training with his scythe again when Dante turned up, just 45 minutes after he left. He put his scythe on his back and led Dante land on his arm.

"I think he said yes" Dante told Naruto, who took the scroll, applied chakra and took it out.

"How do you know? Can you read? Or… did the Hokage just say it out loud?" Dante cawed at him before flying off, looking for food.

"No, he said 'don't die'" Naruto read the scroll and smiled.

Sasuke was still doing the tree walking exercise when Naruto shunshined to the clearing and walked over to Kakashi. _Fuck you Naruto! How did you master this when I have yet to reach the top! I need more power… Itachi!_ He grew even more incensed when he talked to Kakashi and shunshined away _Damn you! I will have more power! I WILL kill you Naruto!_

"Alright team! We've spent enough time out here, let's go inside!" _No! Im not finished yet!_

"Kakashi! Where is Naruto going!" Sasuke demanded. Kakashi turned to Sasuke with the beginning of contempt.

"Sasuke. I am your sensei, and you will address me as such. And if you must know, Naruto is going on a mission." Sasuke seethed with rage, first the dead-last finishes the exercise before him, and now he has his own MISSION! Sasuke went to argue with Kakashi but held his tongue; there was a new steel in his eyes. _Obito, did I take my promise with you too zealously? I only hope I can break down his arrogance over time._

Naruto sped through the forest till he saw what he came for: Gato's mansion. He stopped himself and lent against a tree, putting a hand to his temple and reaching out with his chakra to see/detect who was inside – what he felt sickened him. There was a large room of chained up women, ready to be violated by Gato's hordes of bandits and mercenaries, some had already been raped, but not all. It seemed as though there was no men in there at the moment so with barely contained rage Naruto shunshined in there and quietened them down.

"Shhh… shh, it's alright now, I'm going to get you out of here." He quickly but carefully removed them from their captivity and led them to a back room where their clothes were.

"I'm a ninja, so I'll need everyone to trust me for this next bit. I need you all to make contact with each other, hug or join hands or something." They were confused but went along with him anyway – he saved them after all. He placed his hand on one woman's shoulder and she began to cry, she _really_ didn't want to be touched by another man. Naruto looked at her apologetically.

"Im sorry, this will only be for a moment." She blinked her tears away; she would need to get stronger anyway. He did a mass shunshin into the middle of the village; he dropped to the ground and clutched his chest – that took a lot out of him, though thankfully he still had the Kyuubi's regenerative ability. He got back up and did another chakra search. _Damn it! Some of them…_ as they were reunited with their families, he collected the 8 women who he needed to talk to.

"I…I can't understand how you would feel in that situation. I'm going to make it a bit worse, but then better." Two of them started crying again – what could be worse than that?

"You eight… are pregnant. If you want though, I could do a jutsu that would negate your pregnancies, thankfully they are all only a week or two in, for all of you." one of the women stepped forwards.

"If…if you could do that, I would be in your debt. No one should have to come into the world that way." All seven others agreed, so he did a few handsigns – he was not going to mess this one up – and placed his hands on their stomachs, reversing the process.

"There you go, it's all over now." He went to leave but they stopped him.

"Wait! On behalf of all of us here, we want to thank you… we don't know how long we could have lasted without you. Please, tell us who you are so that we can tell everyone of your bravery." Naruto smiled at that, _why does this question always come up?_

"Well, to you… im just a hero passing by. But for Gato… im the devil." He had to spit out Gato's name as it left a loathe taste in his mouth, he smiled at hem once more and shunshined away.

When he arrived back outside Gato's mansion, he was beyond the point of wrath, de didn't tremble, but his death chakra radiated off of him in a black aura. He let his evil side fully take control.

"**Shinigami Art: Judge Of Death Style: Silent Courtroom!**" all around Gato's mansion rose a spectral image of walls made of bone. He took up his Judge form and summoned Vengeance to his side. He looked his demonic companion with fury in his eyes.

"Bring me Gato." Vengeance silently slinked into the mansion before unleashing her, well vengeance, upon the unsuspecting bandits. Naruto spoke to no one and everyone as he stood outside.

"You screams will be heard by no one but me, these walls bring peaceful silence to those on the outside – and bring great pleasure to me, let's see how long we can keep them up." As Naruto dashed into each room, what he did could only be described as a beautiful, macabre dance of death; each of his footfalls, twists and movements was like watching a graceful ballerina, but with every move of his body came a move of his scythe. As he danced his dance of death, bodies were being cut into pieces, men were diced and mutilated, limbs scattered the mansion and blood painted each room, if his scythe didn't start out red, by the end it would have been – a hundredfold. He had slaughtered every single bandit in Gato's employ and slowly started walking up the stair to Gato's room, where unimaginable screaming happened. He opened the door to find Gato in a pool of his own blood; he was missing his left leg, crotch, part of his left shoulder, and vengeance just swallowed his right hand. Naruto's evil half was revelling in the slaughter.

"WHAT THE FUCK! AAAAAAHHHHHHHH PLEASE STOP! ILL DO ANYTHING! JUST STOP!" Now Naruto was the Judge Of Death, so he also knew fairness and mercy, so he pointed a finger at Gato, and the pain stopped.

"AAAhhhh… it stopped, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU! Why are you doing this!" his voice went from screaming to whispering due to the fact that his lethal pain stopped. Naruto stooped down and rested his arms on his knees.

"What does it look like? Im a demon. Now." He rose to his full height (which was not very big.)

"I will stop this pain, IF you tell me the combination to your safe."

"Y-You did all this… for money? You're a monster!" Gato screamed, Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? IM the monster? Tell me, have you seen what your men do? Have you seen your basement? You have? WELL THEN SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU'RE A GREATER MONSTER THAN I EVER COULD BE!" Gato was shitting himself, _maybe_ he worded that incorrectly, Naruto's voice returned to normal.

"Now, we're both business here, and we both know that time is money, and money is time. All you need to do is give me your money and I'll extend your time. Simple." Of course, Gato – having gone from near death to pain-free – wasn't thinking straight. _If I give him my money I'll be broke! But I'll die otherwise_. He pointed to a painting of himself on the wall.

"It's… it's in there, behind my painting." Gato winced when Naruto slashed through the painting. He opened it up when Gato gave him the combination and whistled.

"*whistles* you _are_ a greedy one, aren't you, there must be _at least_ 500 million ryo here, no wonder you could afford half a million to kill Tazuna, that's chump change to you." Gato didn't care anymore.

"Alright man! Put me back to normal now, you said you would!" Naruto smiled at him.

"**Shinigami Art: Soul Rend!**" Gato has already crapped his pants; he had nothing left to shit out when he saw the Shinigami rise up from the floor.

"**AAhhh my Judge, It has been a while. Why do you summon me?**" Naruto dropped to a knee.

"My Lord. This one deserves the Black Pit, look at his soul and his memories, look at what he has done. He must feel judgement!" The transparent looking Shinigami floated over to Gato and placed and hand in his chest, then took it out and smiled.

"**My my, this one has a dark soul indeed! The ones down there are going to have fun with you. HAHAHAHAHA!**" Naruto then looked at Gato and shucked air through his teeth.

"Well, I wasn't lying when I said I was a businessman, he _is _my boss. But _as_ a businessman, you should have listened to what I said: I said that I will stop _this_ pain, and do you feel the wounds inflicted by Vengeance? – that's Vengeance by the way – nope. But you know what the funny thing is?" he stooped down to Gato and patted him twice on the cheek.

"You think _Im _a demon, compared to the things you'll meet, I'm not even a fuzzy kitten, I barley even a fly! Why, I think im actually a bit jealous of them." Gato was mortified; he was talking casually with the Shinigami! And he said that he was _nothing_ compared to what he'll face?

"Well, the Shinigami is a very busy person, so…" The Shinigami nodded to him and reached into Gato's chest, grabbed his soul and pulled. They say that the Shinigami taking your soul is painless, it's what afterwards that you should be worried about, that's not entirely true; for a brief, picosecond of a moment, it's as though every nerve ending in your body got doused in lava. The look on Gato's face couldn't be replicated, no matter how hard Naruto tried.

When the Shinigami left, Naruto cut the head off of Gato's body, sealed it up, and went to crash on his king-sized bed.

**The Next Day:**

Haku and Zabuza were waiting for Naruto in the same place as they were yesterday when a rejuvenated Naruto turned up

"How we doing everyone!" Zabuza was wondering how he could be in such a chipper mood, and then it hit him.

"You sly dog! You fucked the pink haired bitch, didn't you?" Zabuza congratulated Naruto on his work; he must have only been thirteen!

"Nope! It's something better, well, better than sex with Sakura… actually I could think of a lot of thin- never mind! I have good news and bad news. The bad news…" he applied some chakra to a scroll he was carrying and Gato's head fell to the ground.

"…is that you won't be getting paid by Gato. However, here is 50 million ryo; this should help the fifth Mizukage's restoration efforts."

"WHAT! Where did you get all this cash!? And, what do you mean, fifth Mizukage?" Naruto smiled at him for picking up on it.

"That's the good news; I have the next two weeks to kill the Mizukage!" They both looked at him stupidly.

"Naruto, I'll admit that you are powerful, hell, I even respect that! But you aren't nearly strong enough to fight the Mizukage, let alone kill him." Naruto looked at them both and sighed.

"This is going to sound really arrogant, but you haven't seen a fiftieth of my power." Naruto told them this seriously.

"Not even…a fiftieth? I'll be honest, but I don't believe you, but, we'll go see Mei anyway, c'mon." Naruto was a little annoyed the Zabuza didn't believe him, but was glad that they let him come along.

"So kid, did Gato just have 50 mil lying around? How did you get it?" Zabuza asked Naruto while they were tree hopping to the Village Hidden In The Mist. Naruto gave a cheeky smile in reply...

"One way or another, I got the money off of Gato, but he actually had about _500_ million, 50 went to you, and a large safe went to the Land of Waves." He was smiling as he thought _I think they're going to like their present_. Little did he know that one Gato's victims had already left her house, and had called all of the villagers out to the giant safe that had a not on it: _To: the people of the land of waves. From: a wandering hero PS: you won't need to worry about Gato anymore. PPS: the code is 13-47-25-97._ Suffice to say, there was much rejoicing that day.

**Ka-Pow! Another chapter done! I think all chapters now will be around 20 pages ( ) how was the lemon without a lemon? Sorry I couldn't fit in any KibaxIno stuff either. Next chapter will be the rebellion and the fight between the 3 tails and Naruto, they'll come back to Konoha, but will there be 4 people returning, maybe more, maybe less.**

**Next chapter: 07 – Rebellion and Return**

**ROCK ON!**

**another note, at the time of publishing (9:04 8/6/13) i have almost finished chap 7, it and chapter eight should be up by the 11th at the latest**

**AND A GIANT THANKYOU TO ALL OF MY FAVEOURITERS AND FOLLOWERS! I NEARLY CRIED WHEN I SAW THAT!**


	8. 07 - Rebellion and Return!

Quick apology, didn't have time to spell check!

**GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS! This is the seventh chapter of 'Champion Of The Shinigami'. In this chapter, we see Naruto go with Haku and Zabuza to Kiri, a bit of InoxKibaness (finally) and possibly a collaboration mission between team seven and eight. If not, then there will be a lot going on in the village, in a chapter or two, I will start the chunin exams.**

**One day I might get around to owning Naruto, but that's not today, so I don't own Naruto!**

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

Naruto had been travelling with Zabuza and Haku for three days with only one break on their trip to Kiri when Haku was starting to drop back.

"Zabuza! Haku's slowing down. Let's take a short break." Naruto called to Zabuza who agreed, he was getting kind of sore himself.

"Haku, are you alright?" Naruto asked her, with concern in his voice. She looked up at him in thanks.

"Yeah…I'm fine… just a little puffed." She panted.

"C'mon Zabuza, we'll be there by nightfall anyway, we might as well have a ten minute break, she needs a rest." Zabuza looked at him quizzically.

"What are you talking about? Haku's a boy, if this is about the way he dres-" He was cut off by Haku.

"No, Zabuza, it was about time I told you anyway, I'm a girl. Im sorry I deceived you, but I felt this would be better, when you found me I was scared that you would... you know, when I was older." Zabuza was stunned.

"Haku, I may be a demon, but I wouldn't rape you. Besides, this shows how good a weapon you have become, you deceived me into thinking you were a girl, that's pretty damn good." Haku was surprised that he was okay with it, and felt a little guilty that she had deceived him all these years. She thanked him and got up, they could continue on.

They reached the rebel base to find it destroyed and in flames. Zabuza grew furious and ran into the crowd gathered around it.

"WHAT HAPPENED! WHO DID THIS!" she shouted at the rest of the rebels, then he saw what they were crowded around; at first he saw her head, then the rest of her headless body, Mei Terumi. His Kurikiribocho fell out of his grip and he sank to his knees.

"No...no,no,no NNOOOOOOOOOOO! WHO DID THIS!" one of the rebels said that it was Yagura; he somehow found the base and killed most of the people there, including Mei. He ran over to Naruto and pleaded with him.

"Please kid! You have to save her! YOU HAVE TO! You brought me back, so why not her!?" Naruto looked deep into Zabuza's eyes, past the hatred and murder, he saw love, he saw his own eyes. Zabuza loved Mei, but how could Naruto bring her back? She didn't die by the Judge's scythe?

"I…I'll see what I can do." _Please let this work, there has been too many innocents hurt._ He walked over to her body and picked up her head and placed it roughly on her body. Most of the people there grew hostile when they saw this – he was desecrating their leaders' body! But they backed down when Zabuza told them to.

"**Shinigami Art! Meet The Reaper!**" To the terror of everyone there, they saw the Shinigami rise from out of the ground and look at the newcomer.

"**Naruto? Why have you summoned me again so soon?**"

"My Lord. I request you bring her back to life, she did not fall by my blade, so I cannot."

"**Judge, you know that I cannot fulfil person requests, I'm afr-**" He was cut off as Zabuza screamed at him – the balls on that one!

"Listen here you fucking Shinigami! I'll do anything to bring her back! Trade my soul for hers if you have to!" Naruto was about to remind Zabuza who he was swearing at when the Shinigami placed a hand to its chin.

"**Hhmmmm, you do have a dark soul, I suppose it could work…**"

"My Lord, what if I give you two souls. The soul of the one who killed her, he is a Kage, and the soul of the Three Tails?"

"**Now THAT is an interesting proposition… I shall accede to this, I shall see you soon.**" And disappeared into the ground. Zabuza wielded his giant blade and walked to Naruto.

"Thank you for what you did, no, let's go." Naruto placed a hand on Zabuza's arm.

"No, you have done your part, now I do mine."

"But, but the Mizukage..." Zabuza wanted to kill the Mizukage; he was the one who killed Mei in the first place.

"Shall die by my hand, besides, who can take a tailed beast but a tailed beast?" Naruto asked, much to the shock of everyone there – of course, he didn't mention that he hadn't contained it for the past eight years.

"Y-You hold a tailed beast?" one of the rebels asked in awe – first he could bring the dead back to life, and now this?

"Hehe, lucky number nine. Zabuza, I will kill the Mizukage, make sure that all rebels are here and not in Kiri, it will be a site of mass destruction."

"Naruto, I know you will kill the Mizukage, but I also know how much the tailed beasts cause. I know it's a lot to ask, but could you not fight in the village? There would be too much restoration work, not to mention the homes destroyed." _Fuck! I forgot about the villagers!_

"Okay, I'll try and move the fight." They all wished him luck and he set out for Kiri.

The Fourth Mizukage was celebrating his victory with his jonin inside of his office. Unlike the Hokage's office, which was just a desk, a fair amount of space and a side room; the Mizukage's office was a long room with a table down the centre for his secretaries to work, while his throne dominated the end of the table. He was eating some shark **(AN: they live in the mist village, so I thought sea and yeah…)** when the doors were smashed in.

"Who dares disturb our celebrations?" he demanded as a small figure walked in.

"Yagura! Your soul is mine. All those who are loyal to Mei and the rebellion, leave now!" Naruto banged his scythe once on the ground to signal the end of his proclamation. Only twelve jonin left, the remaining 40 laughed at Naruto's proclamation.

"You have the nerve to usurp my command!?" Yagura shouted, but the three tails had other plans; _Yagura you fool! He is infinitely more powerful than you! Not only does he have the nine-tails' chakra, but the Shinigami's as well!_

"Intruder! My _guest_ tells me that you are quite powerful, that I should run in fact. What do you make of that?" _so he doesn't like the three-tails? This is going to be easier than I thought._

"Three-tails! When I kill Yagura I shall take both his soul and yours! However, you shall be under the protection of my Lord, the Shinigami. Keep that in mind."

"HAHAHA! You believe you can kill me? You are a funny one. Joking aside, I will kill you and crush that petty rebellion." He stood up and took a weapon off of his back, it had a flower on one end and a hook-blade on the other, Naruto also noticed his appearance: he actually looked like a small boy of about 12, with a mesh long sleeved shirt over a green tunic, mesh pants, grey hair, and what looked like a stich-scar under his left eye.

"Ready yourself intruder! For I won't hold back."

"Wait, I ask that we do this outside of the village – too many innocents will die otherwise." _Yagura listen to him! Even if by some miracle you win, you will have nothing to rule!_

"Fine, only because the Sanbi wanted it, one kilometre west."

When Naruto appeared via shunshin, he knew he would be in for a rough time. He was on a beach with the water right next to him – both Yagura's elemental affinity and the three tails' home. He looked over to Yagura who already had his three tails cloak active.

"**Water Style: Coral Spear Jutsu!**" a shaft of dull pink coral flew out of Yagura's hand and went straight for Naruto. _Damn, I don't think I'll have time to use my scythe, I'll have to go into my judge form… but I could try and tire him out first in a nin jutsu battle._

"**Earth Style: Earth Rising Spears!**" Naruto made a pulling motion from Yagura's direction and all around him spears made of earth, sand and stone raced towards him, breaking his coral spear in the process. However, Yagura was no pushover, not only was he Mizukage, he held the three tails as well.

"**Water Style: Water Whip Jutsu!**" Water from the ocean rushed into Yagura's hand and turned into an ultra-fine whip, he sliced easily through Naruto's spears, pulled the whip above his head and struck it down on Naruto, cutting one of his arms. Naruto jumped back and pulled some ground up, making an **Earth Wall**, that was where he had an advantage over Yagura, he didn't need to do the handsigns for his jutsu because he mastered them to such a degree, nor say their titles. However, when he does say their names, his chakra system knows what to do before he does, making the jutsu faster and stronger. He let his scythe drop to the ground and took off his coat.

"**Lightning Style: Lightning Whip jutsu!**" he then whipped at Yagura, the ambient water making the jutsu stronger, and it was already faster due to being made of lightning. He attacked Yagura with it, but he used his chakra cloak at the last second, only scoring minor burns on his legs.

"**Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!**"

"**Lightning Style: Lightning Strike!**" Naruto pointed his middle and index fingers at the dragon - which was getting closer by every moment – and lightning shot out through it, connecting with Yagura's hands, not having enough time to dispel his jutsu.

"Aaargghhh! Damned nine tails!" The regenerative abilities of the three tails seemed slower than usual to Yagura.

"Sanbi! What are you doing, work faster! If I die, you die!" The Sanbi laughed in his head: _yes, I will die, but I will go to a much better place than this pathetic existence, goodbye Yagura._ The Three Tails wanted to take away his regenerative ability as well as his chakra cloak, but Yagura still had some control over him.

"Damn it! Nine tails! I will kill you, three tails or not! **Water Style: Water Vortex Jutsu!**" As the giant vortex-ball was flying towards Naruto, he knew that without the three tails help, he could withstand anything Yagura threw at him – he respected his strength as a ninja, but the Sanbi was the main reason the Yagura was the Mizukage.

"**Earth Style: Head-hunter Jutsu!**" as Naruto descended into the ground he knew that Yagura would be expecting him to grab his ankles, as one would normally the jutsu, so instead he raced to his scythe. The vortex-ball rushed over his position so Naruto popped out of the ground, grabbing his scythe as he did so. As soon as he was on solid ground he pressed a button in the haft of his scythe, waiting for the inevitable metallic _click_. When it did this, the blade moved up, so that instead of looking like an 'L' shape, it was like an 'I', he pulled back his arm and threw his scythe at Yagura as he shouted:

"**Lightning Style: Lightning Javelin Jutsu!**" As the blade was leaving his hands, the jutsu took effect and his scythe was covered in yellow lightning chakra, and as quick as greased lightning, impaled itself into Yagura's right leg – were he not a jinchiruki, it would have ripped his leg off, as well as part of his torso.

"Arrrgghhhh… nine tails, I WILL kill you!" he promised as he threw both his hands out, and without doing any handsigns, shouted:

"**Water Style: Coral Spear Jutsu!**" The two coral spears flew towards Naruto, but it was too late; the moment the scythe left his hands, Naruto went into his Judge Form.

In Naruto's later life, word spreads about how powerful he is in his Judge Form, he even tries to explain it to many, but few can comprehend how strong he is – it's like he's a god (which is actually a fairly accurate description) and his speed? Only those who are as fast as, or faster, than Lee in his 5th gate form seem to be running, everyone else is either walking or not moving at all – however, to move at these speeds doesn't come cheap; Itachi told him that even when he was older and stronger, every move that he made would cause his body harm because he was moving that fast. Most of the time when he is in his Judge Form he moves at his normal speed, or enhancing it by a bit when necessary, but against another jinchiruki? He was taking no chances.

He saw the two spears that would normally have impaled him in two heartbeats, moving at a snail's crawl, he ran over to Yagura and sliced both arms off and raised his scythe above his head for the final blow. As he brought it down, even in his heightened state, he could have sworn he saw Yagura's eyes flicker up to him. Even as he carved him in two he could see the utter hatred in his eyes, and then… a sense of satisfaction?

Because the Sanbi could see things happening at the same speed as Naruto, as the scythe came down he relinquished all resistance – he was going to die anyway. Unfortunately, Yagura sensed this, and with his last ounce of strength, before he died he readied all of the Sanbi's chakra and launched it at Naruto's vulnerable stomach, so that he could have his revenge, even in death. Whilst Naruto split him in two, he could sense the chakra build up but knew there was nothing he could do. He tried to lessen this by jumping to the left, while he did avoid some of the damage, the rest of it tore through his clothes, burning his right arm and the right side of his torso, along with some of the right hip and shoulder. He cried out in pain – a rare thing these days – while he knew he would not die, he knew it would hurt, but not that much – it hurt like a BITCH! Like someone tried to iron part of his body and then melt it with lava.

He tried _really_ hard to ignore the pain, he had more important things to do; so he outstretched his wings (one of which was singed) and flew back to the rebel base. Everyone there was scared when they saw a smoking death-like figure fly in and land in the centre of the crowd, but Zabuza explained that it was Naruto. Haku rushed over to him to see if he was alright.

"Naruto! Are you alright? Did you defeat him, what happened?" Naruto weakly brushed her aside and fell to his knees in front of Mei's body.

"S-**Shinigami Art:…Meet The Reaper!**" Once more did the Shinigami rise from the ground.

"**You have done well, Judge. That was a good battle, when was the last time you had a challenge like that?**" The Shinigami inquired.

"I'm not… sure that I've had to fight that hard… ever… My Lord. Have you seen the Sanbi… and Yagura?" Naruto's response had to be panted out; the last time he had to fight like that was with Itachi!

"**Well then, it was good battle experience for you, you were wounded even – I'm genuinely surprised you are still standing… but yes. I have seen the Three Tails and his jinchuruki, the Sanbi sends his thanks, it would appear that he didn't like his container, and vice-versa. Zabuza, it took balls to insult me, I respect that, and that you would willing trade places with the one you love – I know your pain all too well**" Naruto looked at his Lord in a new light, he had loved someone?

"**You have completed your side of the agreement, here is her soul back.**" And just as Naruto had resurrected Zabuza, the Shinigami resurrected Mei. Bone to bone, skin to skin, soul to frame. As they all do, she took in a massive lungful of air, Zabuza looked at her with misty eyes and whispered.

"Mei… is that really you? You're not dead?" she turned her gaze to him and spoke sarcastically.

"What do you think?" she then embraced him dearly, tears rolling from her eyes.

"Mei, I thought I lost you… don't ever to that again."

"And I thought I would never see you again Zabuza, thank you for bringing me back... that sounds so inadequate, but words can express my thanks." The rebels were gobsmacked, they had a thing?! And the Demon Of The Mist was crying? Zabuza let go of her and helped her up and led her to Naruto.

"It was Naruto who brought you back, he even killed Yagura." Zabuza and Haku helped Naruto up, careful not to squash his wings or injured side.

"It would appear I owe you my life, I saw everything that happened… I'm not sure where I was… but I remember your fight. Please, ask anything you want, I can only begin to repay me debt to you." he smiled under his mask.

"Don't thank me, thank Zabuza. If he didn't tell me who you were, you would still be dead, even if I knew who you were; I probably wouldn't have done it." When Zabuza heard this he was taken aback.

"What are you talking about? You said back in Wave that you would help Mei and the rebellion, what do you mean you wouldn't help?!" Zabuza was getting angry now.

"Wait. You misunderstand. As Judge Of Death, it's not my place to be bringing people back into this world, rather the opposite in fact. I would have killed Yagura anyway, but I'm not sure about bringing Mei back. The thing is, I was unsure if it would even work, but I didn't have the heart to tell you so I tried anyway – I could see the love you have for Mei in your eyes. You see, the Shinigami is hesitant in bringing people back – it would upset the balance of life and death, but when you offered your soul for her life, he was intrigued; because Mei is not evil, her soul would have either to limbo or the other plane, above us and the opposite of the Shinigami's realm. So he would have gained a dark soul at no cost to him, he would have given her life back, but it wouldn't really cost him anything – but I doubt that you knew this, which is why he was going to accept the deal. So Mei, you should feel lucky, you snagged a man who would give his soul away for you – that's devotion." Naruto then laughed at Zabuza.

"Who's the big bad demon of the mist, you're a cuddly bear!" All of the rebels laughed at this, Zabuza was about to punch Naruto before Mei stopped him. As she did this, Naruto unvisored and put his jacket and scythe back on from the sealing scroll he had on his belt. Mei saw that – fierce as a warrior he may be – he was still fairly young, and so decided on messing with him a bit.

"Naruto, one way or the other, even if you don't take credit for bringing me back, you still killed Yagura, that deserves a reward." She placed a hand on either cheek and kissed him on the forehead, causing him to blush immensely.

"Hehe, well, I guess I _should_ get a small reward." Their job done, they began to walk towards Kiri. Naruto only took one step before passing out from the stress that his body had been through.

Naruto awoke in the Kiri hospital to see Mei and Zabuza sleeping upright in chairs and Haku over him.

"Hey Zabuza, Mei, he's awake!" They both groggily opened their eyes and walked over to Naruto's bed.

"What are you guys doing here? More to the point… where am I?" Mei explained to him that he had passed out from pain and that he was in the Kiri hospital.

"We carried you here after you passed out, there were a few pockets of resistance, but Mei is in control, you're looking at the fifth Mizukage actually." Haku then pointed to her hat, but Naruto wasn't looking at her hat, now that she was in the light instead of the darkness last night, he got a full view of her. She had stunning red hair, was about six foot tall, and wore a low-cut blue dress that showed off a _lot_ of her ample DD-breasts. Then he remembered that she was Mizukage, and that he was staring.

"Uhhh, Lady Mizukage! I was NOT staring, just…" Naruto was looking for an excuse to use when Mei laughed it off.

"It's alright Naruto; they are pretty good, aren't they?" Naruto tried his best to look away, but to no avail. It was then that Zabuza asked:

"Speaking of good things Naruto. Do you by any chance know anyone by the name of _Tsume_?" Naruto saw Mei and Haku trying to stifle laughter, _oh crap, what did I do?_

"Uh...no, never met a Tsume before." Zabuza seemed to think about it for a moment.

"Well, that's kind of funny, because for the past two days that you have been unconscious, you keep moaning about how you found her in a _compromising_ situation." Naruto paled at this, how much did they know?

"Yes, it seemed to be in the shower, when she told you that you have _two_ large weapons. What ever could she mean? Especially if you don't know any Tsumes." Mei and Haku couldn't hold in their laughter any longer, while Mei was being conservative and tried to cough at the same time, Haku was rolling on the floor laughing.

"Okay, okay! You can't let on to her you know about it though! Plus it's not like it happened on purpose, I thought she was moaning my name because she was being attacked!" Naruto pleaded and explained, they stopped laughing at this and Zabuza leaned closer.

"Wait, it actually happened?" Naruto's reply was to do a short nervous laugh and scratch the back of his head.

"IT DID! You little legend Naruto! And you're only thirteen… have you bagged her yet? C'mon man I just gotta know!" Zabuza was too excited to notice Mei shooting him an angry glare.

"No! It's not like that, we both love each other, but we're not _exactly_ the same age." As he said 'exactly' his eyes flickered to Mei.

"Holy shit! I can't believe it! You got a 30 year old fingering herself to you!? You are the luck-" He never finished that sentence as Mei slammed a fist down on his head with fire in her eyes.

"Oh ho… _Lucky_ is he… Zabuza?" He knew that his life depended on this answer, he looked at Naruto for guidance, but then he saw his eyes: _Man, she got divine wrath on her side, don't look at me!_ Well, he would face his death like a man.

"From a teenager's point of view, he is. BUT I'm 30, and know that you are the only one for me Mei." He went in for a quick hug before she could react, and he saw Naruto shoot him a thumbs up and a massive smile.

"Well, with that out of the way, I better be heading back to Wave, I've only got a week to get back, and it's a five day trip with regular stops." He got out of bed and began to collect his things.

"Actually Naruto, we were wondering if we could come with you." Mei asked. Naruto looked at her weirdly.

"But, aren't you the Mizukage? Don't you need to fix up things here?"

"Well, since there was no actual damage done in the village, Zabuza, Haku and I were going to go to see if we could make an alliance with Konoha, in our currently weakened stated, I wouldn't be surprised if Iwa or Kusa attacked us. And we wanted Haku to become a Leaf nin." This surprised both Haku and Naruto.

"But... I thought I was going to be a mist nin?"

"Haku, I brought you up as a weapon, for the sole purpose of killing Yagura. I realised my mistake: I brought you up as a weapon, not a person. Even though Mei is in control and there are no more bloodline hunts, there would still be some superstition around you. If you went to Konoha, they would treat you as an equal." Haku was stunned to say the least; she knew Zabuza cared for her, but not to this extent.

"You really think so?" Zabuza nodded his agreement, he though this through.

"There would be one problem… it could be easily cleared up though!" They were worried when he said that there would have been a problem, but he was quick to reassure them.

"If Haku went as she is now, I'm sure they would shove her into the Clan Restoration Act, forcing multiple husbands on her and turning her into a breeding factory." Mei and Zabuza were disgusted, how could the villagers willingly let that happen!

"BUT, were she Haku _Momochi_, there wouldn't be a problem, because they are a family, not a clan **(AN: im purposely missing the point of the CRA for this fic)** so she would be safe to choose whoever she loves to marry. Zabuza, would be able to adopt Haku?"

"Haku, would you be okay with this?" she didn't trust her voice; she just hugged her dad with tears in her eyes.

After a few days of slow travelling, they got to Tazuna's house. He found Tsunami inside and she explained that his clones and Tazuna were on the bridge – it was almost finished, and Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke were training in the forest.

Kakashi saw Naruto and was about to greet him when he saw Zabuza and Haku behind him… and then the Mizukage?

"Naruto! What's going on?" he called from across the clearing. Naruto walked over to him and explained.

"Well, my mission was a success and this is the bonus. I'd like you to meet Mei Terumi, the fifth Mizukage, oh, and Haku and Zabuza aren't trying to kill us either." Kakashi was bewildered until he remembered his place, he bowed to Mei.

"Lady Mizukage. I am Kakashi Hatake, jonin leader of team seven; I mean no disrespect when I ask this, but what is going on?"

"Kakashi-sensei, it's a long story, I will tell you and the Hokage all about it when we get back. To summarise; Mei and Zabuza are coming to offer the Leaf an alliance, and Haku wants to join us. Zabuza is no longer an A-Rank missing nin, well, he still has the bounties, but he has been taken back by the Mist." Kakashi was going to ask for a better explanation but just laughed instead.

"Naruto, you definitely are the world's most unpredictable ninja, you know? I'll go tell Sasuke and Sakura, can you tell Tazuna?" Naruto agreed and they set out to find him at the bridge, although they had a tougher time convincing him that Zabuza wasn't going to kill him.

**Nightfall: tea-time! (Dinner for fancy people)**

Sasuke walked in the house after some late training. He was going down the hall to get a drink when he saw Mei. Now, Kakashi told him that the new Mizukage was there but it couldn't be her, she was a woman after all, what could she do? She was probably a servant. So, true to his arrogant stick-in-the-arse Uchihaness, he thought he could _seduce_ her.

"Hey good looking, ever been with an Uchiha?" Naruto walked down the hall as well, when he heard this from behind Sasuke his mouth dropped open. _He didn't actually just say that? He did, oh fuck, Zabuza's going to kill him – can't complain though._ Walking next to Mei was Zabuza; she could feel the wrath radiating from him but shot him a look that said: _I'll put him in his place_.

"Me? You think I'm good looking?" she asked, flattered. She walked slowly over to Sasuke and put her hands on his shoulders.

"You think I'm hot?" Sasuke nodded his head _I'm gonna fuck this bitch hard, I'll make her scream my name_. She then leaned forwards and whispered in his ear:

"Well I do too." She then let a torrent of boil chakra through her hands, giving him two third degree burn hand marks on his shoulders, as he screamed out loud she pushed him against the wall and her voice was like iron.

"I am the Mizukage! You do not talk like that to any female, besides." She then nodded for Zabuza to come over.

"I like studs who can fight, not pin-dicked little boys who shit themselves at the first sign of trouble." Naruto had told them what had happened when the demon brothers attacked. She then dropped him to the ground.

"Get out of my sight you pathetic piece of shit." Sasuke was mortified! _She attacked me, an Uchiha! And she talked down to me as well! I'll make her pay for that!_ Sasuke was plotting his revenge when Kakashi turned up.

"Sasuke? What's going on?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh, nothing. He was just leaving, _weren't you?_" Sasuke 'hhnn'd' and walked off, nursing his shoulders.

"Lady Mizukage, I apologise in advance for anything he does… the village has spoiled him somewhat." She smiled at Kakashi.

"Its fine, he just needed to be taught a lesson in common decency. Are we heading off for the night?" she asked Kakashi.

"Yeah, Tazuna says that the bridge will be finished early tomorrow and he wanted to give us a big send off. I'll see you in the morning Lady Mizukage." They each bade one another goodnight, ready for their journey for tomorrow.

**Next Morning: bridge**

Naruto was helping Tazuna install the last struts on the bridge when he saw two villagers walk by, one pointed to the other and they both ran off. _I wonder what I did?_ About half hour later Tazuna had finished the bridge when the two villagers were back – with the rest of the village behind them.

"There he is!" One of them shouted. Naruto was seriously wigging out – what did he do? Naruto looked at Tazuna who was supressing a grin.

"Tazuna! What is it man? Are they going to kill me?" This caused Tazuna to laugh,

"Kid, the're not going to kill you, they want to thank you!" Naruto was confused. By this time, everyone was ready to go and waiting and so wondered what the commotion was. As one, the villagers ran up to naruto and cheered for him.

"Three cheers for the wandering hero! Hip-hip! Hooray! Hip-hip! Hooray! Hip-hip! Hooray! Please, tell us your name!" Sasuke walked forward.

"My name is S-" Zabuza pulled him back and shoved naruto forwards.

"Not you faggot! Naruto!"

"Naruto! His name is naruto!" some of the musclier villagers picked up naruto and carried him around for everyone to meet. Sasuke grabbed one of the villagers and demanded to know what naruto or 'the idiot' did to deserve this. The old woman sturck him across the face.

"You'll show him no such disrespect! Not only did he save our women from Gato! Not only did he kill Gato and give us our money back! But he also ended the rebellion of Mist in a single night by killing the fourth Mizukage, a tailed best no less! So show some respect young man!" and walked off.

Sasuke was beyond irate, he was beyond wrathful – there was no word to describe how angry he was! First an old cow slapped him in the face! But she then said that naruto had killed a Kage! He was about to go after her and tell her that it was a lie and punch her in the face, when Kakashi grabbed his collar and said in a voice of iron:

"If you raise a hand against her, you will lose it." Sasuke stormed off after that, beginning the long walk back to Konoha, with Sakura close behind. As naruto was being paraded around, he saw Inari and asked for his carriers to put him down.

"Inari. How are you doing?" Inari couldn't look him in the eye, he wanted to hate him; for proving him wrong, and for succeeding where Kaiza failed.

"Inari, the only reason I could do all these thing, was because I was doing it to protect, because I was doing what I felt was right."

"Then… then how come Kaiza died! He was protecting us!" tears were running down his face now.

"Because he was a good man. His problem was that he loved you and Tsunami too much; the reason he didn't, or rathe _couldn't_ kill Gato, was because he didn't want you to look up at him as a killer. He wanted you to look up at him as a protector, and a hero. The only reason I could kill gato, was because I was finishing what he started. If it wasn't for him, Gato would still be around. So wipe away your tears, and think of him as a hero." This struck a chord with the villagers as well as Inari; not only had naruto taken away their problems, but he had gotten Inari to look at Kaiza as a hero, and when he thought about him from now on, there would be no pain. They started an even greater clap, this man was a true hero.

"Hey Tazuna, we still need a name for the bridge, right?" One of the villagers asked, Tazuna caught on staright away.

"Yeah… how about we call it, 'The Great Naruto Bridge'." The villagers shouted their agreement.

"No, no. I've got a better name! even when he saved the village he wouldn't give us his name, why don't we name it, 'The Bridge Of Wandering Heroes'?"

"That's a great idea!"

"Yeah, The Bridge Of Wandering Heroes"

"I'm for that!" all of the villagers shouted their agreement. Tazuna spoke up above everyone else.

"From this day forth, this shall be known as 'The Bridge Of Wandering Heroes'. Hey Naruto! We won't ever forget you! Come visit us some time!" Their adulation for him brought tears to his eyes.

"Y-You got it old man! I wont forget any of you! I'll see you around!" He called and waved to them until he couldn't see them over the horizon anymore.

They were on the way back to Konoha when it hit Mei.

"Kakashi, is there any special procedures we have to go through to see the Hokage?" Kakashi was thingink about it before he replied.

"No, you should be fine, even if you weren't the Mizukage. We'll go deliver our mission report to the hokage, so you can come along then."

"I also sent Dante with word that I was bringing the fifth Mizukage into Konoha, so I think he'll send out the red carpet for you… hey is that? It is!" he created a shadow clone that henged into a snake, all the while giggling like a madman.

"Uuuummm kakashi? Is he going to be alright?"

"Well, knowing naruto, he's either going to prank someone or… yeah he's going to prank someone. Advice? Watch and listen, one way or the other, it always produces laughable results." He shunshined away with the snake, a few moments later they heard a girlish scream and then:

"FUCK! OFF! NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Haku and Zabuza were beside themselves with laughter, Mei was giggling whilst looking puzzled (a hard thing to do) and kakashi just smiled as he read his book. A hundred metres later they found the dazed form of Naruto with the furios Kiba standing over him.

"This is the LAST TIME! Im going to tell you! we can still have our prank wars, but snakes are OFF LIMITS!" he shouted at Naruto, who was still giggling. Zabuza nidged him with his shoe.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen, the guy who killed the Mizukage was lain low by a genin." Anko heard Zabuza say this, and while Kiba was arguning with naruto she asked kakshi.

"Kakashi, why is there an A-rank missing nin with you? and was what he said true? Naruto can't have killed a Kage, it's impossible!" Much to her annoyance, Kakahi laughed at her.

"If I was in your shoes three weeks ago, I would completely agree, and try and dispel the genjutsu you had on me. But… I've seen his power, no, his strength and, between you and me, he could kill me without working up a sweat. But don't feel bad anko, we had a talk – I apologised about the way I treated him – you know how I was – and he said it was fine, when I asked why, he said that simply apologising was enough. But damn, he had us all fooled, you know what he said when I asked how he was so strong? 'What's on the first page of the ninja handbook?'"

"Deception is a ninja's greastest weapon…" Anko was astonished at naruto, he had them all fooled, even her! She thought from all the time he spent at the T&I division, that she knew him well. _Just how much did we underestimate you, Naruto?_ She looked back to see Kiba leaning over Naruto.

"Or should I tell mum about what you did in the spa four years ago." Naruto sat bolt upright when Kiba said that.

"O-Okay Kiba. I'll stop the snakes… just, don't tell Tsume, PLEASE! And how many times have I told you! it was that damn pervy sage!" Kiba looked at him with contempt as he helped him up.

"Yes, of course, there just _happened_ to be a 'toad sage', looking in the womens spa. If your gonna make something up, do better than that." _A pervy toad sage? Mater Jariaya has met naruto?_ Kakashi thought to himself, he should tell the hokage about this. Naruto then noticed that Kiba helped him us with his left hand, and saw that his right was in a sling. They started to walk towards the gate which was only a few hundred metres away.

As they were wakling to the gates, Naruto noticed that Kiba and Ino were holding hands, and that Ino rested her head on his shoulder. _Nice work my man!_ When they arrived they found a pissed off Sakura and a brooding sasgay.

"Where were you! we've been waiting here for over an hour and the guards won't let us in because we could be spys! Which is rediculos!" the howler monkey screeched at them.

"Well Sakura, they have a valid point, did you explain why you were by yourselves? Did you tell them where your jonin sensei was? Or did you just demand to get in? I have to agree with the guards, you two could have been infiltrators." As they walked through the gates uninhibited, naruto reached up to kakashi's ear.

"I dunno kakashi-sensei, I think I have to agree with sakura on this one. Not even the greatest Kumo infiltrator can replicate her screeching." Kakashi had to stifle a laugh, it was bad business to make fun of your students. They were a short way through the gates when Sasuke saw Ino and Kiba holding hands.

"Hey Ino! Why don't you get rid of that dog and hang off of my arm?" Ino looked disgusted, and Kiba was pissed.

"I wouldn't _hang off your arm_. Even if it was the last arm on earth! Besides, I prefer good looking men."

"You little bitch! I'll teach you to say that to an Uchiha!"

"Shut the fuck up Sasuke! Everyone here knows that you can't beat any of us guys, so you have to pick on girls! You're fucking pathetic! It was even stupider of you to insult Ino!" as he said this he transformed into his beast mode.

"Shut up mutt. I am Uchiha! I am elite! Your clan is pathetic! I wonder if your sister is going to turn out like you mum, a filthy old who-" Before anyone could react Sasuke was pinned to the ground with Naruto standing on top of him, one foot on the back of his knees, one foot in the small of his back, and his scythe at sasuke's neck, drawing out droplets of blood.

"If you ever want to see the light of day again, you will never insult Tsume Inuzuka again! Nor any Inuzuka for that matter! Do you understand!" When Sasuke didn't reply, Naruto assaulted Sasuke's mind with KI, so much so that he actually shat his pants into unconsciousness.

"I'll take that as a yes you worthless being, to call you human we be an insult to us." Sakura ran forwards and drew breath to yell at Naruto, he hueard this and spun his head to wards her, pointed his scythe at her and pressed the button on the handle, deploying the blade.

"Think. Before you do anything else, think." He pressed the button on his scythe as he spun it to his back and walked over to Kiba and Ino.

"Whoa Naruto! You've gotten even faster. Thanks for sticking up for me man, but I had him!"

"Kiba, I know you would have fought him, and won. That's the problem, if you did it, ir would have repercussions on your clan. Whereas if _I_ did it, well actually, I'll probably get locked up for a week or so because I hurt their precious Uchiha. c'mon, we better get to the Hokage and deliver out reports before this goes south."

When they arrived at the Hokages tower there were rumors abound as to what the large troupe was doing.  
Word had spread that naruto had a secret mission The demon? What could he do?  
The councilmembers were aware that the Mizukage was coming Didn't you hear? The rebels won!  
Most shinobi were aware that an A-rank criminal was there Is that the Demon Of The Mist?  
Anko sent advance word to Hana that Kiba hurt himself Kiba you dumbass! Is Akamaru ok?  
And _everyone_ heard about the 'attack on the Uchicha' I knew the demon would get out of control!

The Hokage himself ushered them in, as he closed the door he put up a silencing seal, sat down and sighed heavily.

"I apologise in advance, Lady Mizukage, but we need to get this out of the road first. Naruto, what happened at the gate?" Sakura was about to tell him what 'really' happened, and then remembered what Naruto said, so she shut her howler hole.

"Lord Hokage, we were walking through the gates when Sasuke saw Ino and Kiba holding hands. He and Ino shared some unfriendly banter, Kiba came to her aid and Sasuke made certain derogaroty remaks about his family. Before Sasuke could provoke Kiba any further I intervened, and made certain that Sasuke would not do this again." The ageing Hokage rubbed his temples, while he had to credit on Naruto being diplomatic, he still evaded the point.

"Naruto, did you attempt to kill Sasuke Uchicha?" when he said this, Kiba, Mei and Zabuza came to Naruto's defence, shouting over the top of one another.

"SILENCE! Naruto, please answer the question."

"No, Lord Hokage. I placed my scythe agains Sasuke's neck, enough to draw blood and intimidate, when he refused to stop acting patheticly, I attaced him with KI, I _may_ have overdone it, however, as Sasuke fell uncoinscious."

"And did Sasuke, void his bowels?" Mei, Kiba and Ino had to supress the hokage asked this.

"Yes, Lord Hokage." When he answered this the Hokage cleared his throat and popped one of his knees, a signal that was known only to jonin and a trusted inner circle of the Hokages cloest friends and confidants; it's meaning was simple: _HAHAHAHA! Nice work! Don't do it again though, or the civilian council will kill me, okay?_ Kakashi, Naruto and Anko all seemed to have a bit of a cough at the moment, trying to choke back their laughter at the Hokages' sign of approval.

"I see, I shall take this up with the civilian council. Now, your mission reports." Team Eight reported on their mission, it was mostly a success, the bandit leader was assassinated, but some of the guards were altered, in the ensuing fight between his top henchmen and the Shinobi, one of them snuck up to Ino while she was doing her body transfer jutsu and was about to kill her with his mace, but Kiba jumped under the blow in his man/beast form, taking the hit.

Kakashi and Naruto reported their mission, how Tazuna lied to them and the demon brothers attack, Zabuza and naruto's kenjutsu duel (Zabuza helped tell that part), and how the mission went smoothly from there.

"I see. Shino, Ino, Kiba, Sakura. You are dismissed… Naruto, how did your side mission go? It was obviously a success, but I would like to know the details." Naruto sighed and nodded.

"Before I do, I have to swear you all to secrecy, what I am going to tell you will probably turn into an S-Ranked secret." They all nodded in agreement.

"Tell me, what are your thoughts on the Night Haunter, Anko?"

"He's sick. He goes aroung at night butchering people."

"Kakashi?"

"I agree. He must be very sadistic." Naruto sighed and looked at them both.

"Okay, that was the politically correct answer, but I know you are both lying, what do you think of him?" Anko and Kakashi looked at each other with the same thought: _how did he know?_

"I don't think he's all that bad. He's killing criminals and making them suffer too." Anko stated

"He is doing the right thing, but I think that he is being a little… excessive, but it is making results. I'm not really sure, Naruto." Kakashi concluded.

"I see. What I am about to show you cannot leave the room." He then Visored up, wings and all, he summoned Misery and Vengeance to his side as well.

"I. am the Night Haunter. I cannot tell you why I can go into this form, but I can tell you why I am the Night Haunter. Ever since I was a child, I was beaten down and trodden on, insulted and cursed – while I still hate most of the villagers to this day, I can understand where they are coming from; they think I am a demon. But, I do not understand why people murder, rape, pillage and slaughter for no reason other than personal gain. As Naruto Uzumaki, the demon child, I could do nothing. As the Night Haunter, well, the crime rate has gone down, hasn't it?" he unvisored his face, his animals turning back into Louise and Dante. Anko was amazed that Naruto had it in him to be the Night Haunter, although his internship at the T&I division would prove otherwise, Kakashi just took it in stride, he had know for a while that Naruto was made of suprises.

"When it comes time for the chunin exam finals, I will reveal who I am to everyone, and I will explain my powers as well – I shall also take up my birthright."

"Birthright? What're you talking about Naruto?" Anko inquired. He looked over to the hokage, who nodded to him.

"My name and title, of Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, I am the child of the fourth Hokage." And it was Anko who surprised him that time – by facepalming.

"How did I not see it? I see his face everyday on the mountain, it's an older Naruto!"

After all of his revelations, Naruto regaled to the Hokage, Kakashi and Anko his side mission. How hu butchered Gato and his men, frees their slaves, returned their money and went with Zabuza and Haku. That he came to the rebel camp and how he found Mei, how he fought the three-tails and won, and how he brought Mei back to life with help from the Shinigami. They looked at Naruto in pure awe, Kakashi spoke first.

"So, you not only killed a tailed beast – something even the fourth couldn't do – but brought both Mei and Zabuza back from the dead?" Naruto nodded his head.

"As of now, what was just spoken and all knowledge of Naruto is considered a SS-rank secret. Understood?" they all agreed, Anko and Kakashi were still mulling over what they just heard.

"Now Lady Mizukage, I understand you wish to have an alliance with Konoha, correct?"

"Yes, on behalf of the Village Hidden In The Mist I would like to broker an alliance with the Leaf. If we could share your strength while we get back on our feet in the present, we would gladly pay it back in the future." Mizukage and Hokage shook upon this deal.

"You have no need to broker, Lady Mizukage. As of now, an alliance is in place. Zabuza, since you are no longer a missing-nin and are back in Kiri hands; Kiri being our ally, I'm sure we can work out a way to turn a blind eye towards your bounty. And Miss Haku, you wish to become a Leaf Shinobi, correct?" she bowed before him.

"Yes Lord Hokage, I would like that very much, there is a bit of a…_ hitch_, so to speak." She dodn't really know how to speak in front of a Kage and so was looking for the right words to say when Naruto came to her rescue.

"What she means to say, is that she can perform ice jutsu." The Hokage nodded in understanding, the CRA.

"I see… the CRA is rather unavoidable. I'm sorry, but that would be the only way you could take up residence in Konoha and hence become a ninja here." The Hokage informed her sadly. Naruto had his prankster sparkle in his eyes.

"Actually gramps, I know away around it. I request you call a meeting of the clan heads and civilian council. We can make Haku a Leaf Shinobi, they can chew me out about Sasuke, Mei can be introduced and I will get to piss of Danzo again. It's a fatal four-way." Anko and Zabuza laughed at his choice of words, while Kakashi just shook his head. _You never change Naruto, Minato would be proud._

"Actually…" The hokage started.

"… Considering your _last_ prank towards Danzo, I'm somewhat hesitant to do it again, but you did point something out to me. The council meeting will go ahead, on the condition that I _don't_ get covered in ROOT blood again. Do you have any idea how long it took me to get it out of my robes, Naruto?" he asked menacingly.

"Hehe, you got it gramps, no exploding people... he he, please don't kill me, he he." He slowly backed away until he set his sights on Mei.

"You are all dismissed, but Lady Mizukage, we should probably sort out the _paperwork_ for the alliance." He spat out the word 'paperwork', Naruto laughed; _if Mei is a laid back 'Kage, she is going to _drown_ in paperwork_.

Two hours later, with all of their royal pomp and circumstance, the civilian council arrived and took their seats. The hokage directed them (Naruto + Co.) to stan din front of the council table.

"This meeting has been called for a number of reasons, first and foremost it was called-"

"To exact punishment on the kyuubi demon for attacking Sasuke!" one of the council member shouted, only to be summarily executed by Naruto himself.

"Knowlegede of my guest is an S-Rank secret, punishable by death. Forgive, Lord Hokage." He bowed to Sartutobi.

"You were in the right Naruto. As I was saying, this meeting was called primarily…" he looked at the council members to see it they would interrupt, but they were all staring intently at the headless councilman, as it willing him back to life.

"… to formally introduce the Fifth Mizukage, and to properly announce our alliance with Kirigakure." Some were shocked at this – An alliance with Blood Mist Village!

"We are also here to receive a new Shinobi, Miss Haku Momochi, an ice user." And before a fly had time to sniff shit:

"I must remind the Hokage that those with kekkai genkai and want to join the village, by extension become a Shinobi, must sign the Clan Restoration Act." Danzo spoke this with an air of finality, until Naruto cleared his throat.

"Actually Lord Danzo, that won't be necessary. First off, it is the _Clan_ Restoration Act, the Momochi are not a clan, they are a family. Secondly, why should she become a breeding machine and be forced to marry multiple husbands. And thirdly." He winked at Tsume who nodded back.

"She is a protectorate of the Inuzuka clan, and sinice they already have an adequate number of clansmen, it becomes impossible to forcefully enact the CRA upon her. Without the consent of the clan head and Haku as well." Under his calm mask, Danzo was fuming._ How dare the little demon! She would have made an excellent weapon, if I can't have her, somehow, I WILL have you – the nine tails shall be mine!_

"Well Danzo, there you have it. Due to _unfortunate_ circumstances, Miss Momochi won't be under the Act." Everyone knew that the Hokage wanted to revoke the Act, but it was one of the few Acts that needed both the Shinobi council AND the civilian council to agree on to revoke. The Hokage sighed.

"And now we come to the last order of business, the incident at the gate. Naruto, please explain your side." Naruto spoke his side of the story again wich produced much hostility and yelling from the civilian council.

"SILENCE!" The hokage roared, making everyone shut up; of course, the Queen Of The Howler Monkeys had to have her say:

"Hokage, he's lying! If he's telling the truth, then where did those hideous burns on his shoulders come from!" _Ha you little demon scum! No lie gets past me!_ Mei then walked forwards and bowed to the Hokage, Danzo and the elders before turning on Sakuno.

"Shut up you silly tart! _I_ make those burns!" The council was shocked – it was the Mizukage!? Sakuno had other thought, however. _So this, this trollop! This whore! Burned my future son!_ (Yep, you read her thoughts correctly.)

"Lady Mizukage, please explain… oh, and watch your language, please." He quickly added as Sakuno shot him a dirty look.

"Simple. While we were in Wave, he sexually harassed me, and then went to say how good we would be in bed. So, I left him a reminder to not treat women with disrespect, however, after this morning's incident, and what he said to that Ino girl, I think I'll do it again." The civilians were shocked – she purposely attacked _their_ last Uchiha! And thereatened to do it again!? The Hokage rubbed his temples, while his actions were understandable, if he didn't punish Naruto now, they would be extra cruel in the future.

"Naruto, while your actions were justified and they possibly prevented an incident between Sasuke and the Inuzuka's, it connot go unpunished. Any thoughgts as to how he can be punished?" he being a rather large meeting (they were meetgin the Mizukage) Ibiki was there.

"I have an idea Lord Hokage. In this instance, for attacking a fellow Shinobi – justly – the sentence would be a monthe in jail. What if it was shortened to a week in the T&I department, we wouldn't torture him, but we would make him observe us working, as a reminder in the future." Before Danzo coul interject, the Hokage made it final.

"That's an excellent punishment Ibiki, Naruto I hope you learn from this, any objections from the civilan council?" they all shook their heads – maybe the Hokage wasn't so bad after all, he was sentencing the demon brat to a week with Ibiki and that snake whore, Anko. If he wasn't the demon, I'd actually feel sorry for him! Was the thought that went through all of their heads. The meeting adjourned, everyone began to file out, Ibiki put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"You've been very bad Naruto, you have to come with me for a week – to the horrific T&I department!" Naruto laughed at him. He already had an internship there, and Ibiki wasn't all that bad of a guy, he just knew how to be intimidating and sadistic, and was actually a really nice guy when you got to know him – he and Naruto had even played poker before! That being said, Ibiki had a mean poker face to boot.

"Y'know, I didn't think that would actually work Naruto." Tsume said from behind him, making him turn.

"Oh ye of little faith, I told you it would!"

**Two hours earlier:**

_Naruto knocked on the door of Tsume's house in the main Inuzuka compound._

_"Hello? Is anyone home? It's Naruto!" he let himself in and went into the kitchen and sat down at the table._

_"Naruto! I missed you!" Tsume came from upstairs and embraced him, he was almost her height now. 'She missed me?' thought Naruto, he knew that he loved her, but was unsure of how much she loved him._

_"I missed you too, Tsume." They hugged each other warmly and separated. He told her about everything that happened, including the parts about the Shinigami._

_"I also heard about what happened at the gates, thank you for sticking up for me. I'll skin the little uchicha prick for saying that though." She told him, with anger in her voice._

_"Haha, it seems that I'm rubbing off on you… although, if you want to thank me… he he." He spoke slyly, she fixed him with a suspicious gaze._

_"What do you mean, Naruto?" _

_"Hehe, well, when I brought Mei back to life, she kissed me on the forhead as a reward. Although I didn't save your life, I was wondering if you would give me a reward like that, if you wanted to… y'know." She just smiled at himand leaned in. When their lips first met, it was a little sloppy but then Naruto stood up with her and kissed her fully back, with passion and fire. They were kissing for a few minutes, but both their feral sides started to kick in, fox and wolf came to the surface and their hands started to roam, naruto's went from her back down to her arse, giving it a large squeeze, Tsume's went to naruto's front, over his pec's and rock hard ab's, going lower; before Naruto pushed away and took stock of the situation, another minute and they would have been having sex!_

_"Whoa Taume, that was REALLY nice, but, I want our first time to be special, not the result of a heated make out session, sorry." Tsume then realised that if it kept goin, she would have jumped him!_

_"No Naruto, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let my feral side get the better of me." Naruto chuckled to himself._

_"Well, I can't say that it was ALL bad, I was actually enjoying it." They began to kiss each other again, with passion, yes, but they kept their feral sides in check – they were kissing now to show emotion, love for each other, and loneliness at being apart for three weeks – when Kiba yelled out he was home. They quickly broke apart and straightened themselves out, no matter how ready they were for each other, kiba could NOT know._

_"Hey mum! I'm back from my mission! Sup Naruto?... why are you breathing so hard? Did something happen?" It took all of his Judge Of Death training to stop himself from flicking his eyes towards Tsume, and to stop himself from having a heart attack._

_"Oh I was… just training… REALLY hard… you should have seen it." He panted his response while swallowing a dry throat._

_"Actually, there is something I wanted to ask you, and I'll need to ask Hana when I see her, I'll have to go to the vet next. In Wave we found this Shinobi who uses ice…"_

_Naruto then told them his plan of how to get her into the Leaf without having to do the CRA, it would probably work, but if she was under the protection of the Inuzuka's, then there was no way that it could be forcedon her._

**Present time**

Naruto blushed at the recent memory and found that the floor was rather interesting at that moment, Tsume had the same thought. Zabuza put 2 and 2 together. _Weird interaction between the two. He came to the defence of the Inuzuka's. that Kiba kid was an Inuzuka, and Naruto got pissed when Sasuke insulted his mum, they look a bit alike… HOLY SHIT! FUCKING THE BEST FRIENDS MUM!_ Zabuza walked over to Naruto and leaned in to him;

"So _that's _Tsume huh? And the best friends mum? You sly dog! Hehehe, nice work man!" other than Naruto and Zabuza, only two people heard that: Tsume, and Mei. The worst two that could have heard it. Mei hit Zabuza over the head and whispered furiously to him.

"Zabuza! What have I told you! don't give him shit about who he likes! And stop thinking that hes's lucky!" and hit him for a second time. Tsume had fire in her eyes, she craked her knuckles and asked innocently.

"Oh Naruto? What ever are they talking about?" Naruto was sweating bullets as he backed up against the wall, putting his hands between them and was looking for a way out.

"Hehe, well Tsume. As it turns out, I way dream about certain people and things that may have happebned in the past, hehe… hey Ibiki! Wait up!" he expertly maneuvered past Tsume and ran for Ibiki, he did NOT want to be there any longer.

The Hokage cleared his throat and called Tsume to a corner.

"So Tsume, how are things between you and Naruto?"

"B-But, how did you?..."

"Well, after the exploding agent incident, I have taken my posion and the Will Of Fire more seriously, nothing gets past me now, so. Has he made a home run?" Tsume was pissed, first Mei and Zabuza, and now the perverted Hokaage?! She flicked one finger into a beast claw and held it about waist high.

"You tel ANYONE, and you'll wish I killed you. got it?" she asked menacingly. The hokage shut his mouth and nodded vigorously up and down.

"Yes Tsume. No one Tsume. Please, nto there."

**POW! Another chapter down! I read the new comments for my story, and wow! People think I'm a good writer? I also saw that there were over 1500 views. GO TEAM! Thank you readers for liking this, following it and faveouriteing it. Remember, praise is good, criticism id good but remember, if you are going to just blatantly insult it, please say WHY it's bad. Also, I just wanted to make a few notes: first off:  
I haven't read the manga, but I have seen all of Naruto, and roughish 100 eppisodes of shippuden, i go to Narutopedia for help, like how Mei and Yagura looked and stuff.  
Yes, Naruto IS really strong, but that's only when he goes into his Judge Of Death Form, as for when he's normal Naruto, even with full concentration, he didn't know if he would have beaten Zabuza.  
For all of his awesome strength, his actual ninjustsu strength, isn't all that high – think of a piece of chara paper, most people only have one or two styles, so that would be like a full piece, or two halves. Because of his death chakra, Naruto is only a QUARTER lightning and a QUARTER earth, and because of this, he doesn't use jutsu that much – which I reckon is a failing on my part.  
However, come the chunin exams, things will happen and he will have an awesome ninjutsu battle with Orochimaru. You may be thinking 'why doesn't he use jutsu when he's in Judge form and be all like, super saiyan?' while he can use death chakra jutsu normally, they are very weak, he cannot use elemental justsu in his Judge form, not even shunshin.  
I will be making Naruto stronger, but I wont be introducing many new things. But the end of the fic (which I hope Is a long way away) he will have about 15-20 normal jutsu, a ****_good_**** amount of death jutsu, his Judge from, and Executioner form. This being my first fic, I don't want It going for too long, so I'm thinking of capping it at 30 chapters.**

**Next Chapter: 08 – Secret Missions and Secret Teams!**

**LONG LIVE TRUE METAL!**


	9. 08 - Secret Teams and Secret Missions!

**Hello and welcome, I'm Leonard Nemoy and… hey! Get off my set! This is a TV show (fight breaks between drakas3000 and Leonard Nemoy, drakas3000 wins) take that you bastard! Ahem, que pasa? This is 'Champion Of The Shinigami' and, hey! Get lost!  
Nemoy: You thought you could kill me? Eat my raygun!  
d3000: you want me to eat you raygun!? You're as bad as Sasuke!  
*raygun shots can be heard*  
d3000's last breath: faggot… Sasuke!  
Nemoy: My apologies, dear fans. Now, where were we? Ah yes, the disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**-Recap:** Naruto killed the 3 tails and the fourth Mizukage, saved Mei and went back to Konoha, Sasuke was being a deusch to Kiba and his clan, Naruto made Sasuke shit himself. After a council meeting, Haku didn't get the CRA sicked on her but Naruto had to be locked up in the T&I division cells and watch them work – mind you, he gave some of the new people pointers.

**Day of release from T&I division cells, midday.**

"Hey Naruto! We'll see you next weekend right?" one of the junior interrogator's called after Naruto.

"Of course! I still need to show some of you that poison I was telling you about!" he called back. One of the younger female torturers who had a thing for Naruto called out to him.

"Well, there are still some thieves left over, if you wanted to, you could show me. Hey! Where are you going?" she called after him, he turned around so he could face them, but kept walking backwards.

"I just got out of jail! What does every man need when he gets out of jail?" the caused the girl to blush and get slightly jealous. Only Anko and Ibiki knew what he meant; at the same time, Naruto and Tsume licked their lips – or did they?

"Oh sweet delicious ramen! How I missed you so!" Naruto told his bowl of ramen lovingly, cradling it to his face. Tsume finished her mouthful before speaking;

"Mmppph, yeah, that's the good stuff. I just knew you would come here Naruto." Shortly after they began seeing each other, Naruto got her into ramen, she warmed to it instantly – she and Naruto even had a joint tab!

"Hey old man! Can I have another bowl please?"  
"Yeah Teuchi, fill her up." Ichiraku's had become their rendezvous for when they wanted to see each other and talk, or to spy on Kiba and Ino across the street, they had finally made it official, they were dating.

**Across the street…**

"C'mon Ino, _one _slice of pork won't hurt." Kiba tried to convince her into eating more than salads.

"No. if I say yes to one slice, I'll say yes to two slices, and if I say… well, you get what I mean! I don't want to get fat!" she shouted at him, but that was one of the reasons Kiba liked her, she was fierce! _Damn it Naruto, now look what you did, bringing her here was a bad move, she would have liked the sushi joint better_.

"Ino, no matter how you look, you'll always…." He mumbled the last sentence into his food.

"What did you say!" thinking he was calling her fat.

"I said you'll always look good to me! Okay!" he shouted back, that was a reason why she liked him, he didn't back down and wasn't afraid to put his foot down.

"You… you really mean that?"

"Of course I do Ino. Besides, with all of the training and fighting we do, you'll need energy, and meat = energy. So, come on, open wide!" She was angry for a moment that he would try and feed her, but then she let him seeing the romance in it, and that he was willing to do it, too. They would have continued their date had an ANBU shunshined next to them, making Kiba choke on his food.

"Kiba Inuzuka, Ino Yamanaka, the Hokage requests you meet him in his office immediately." They looked at each other – _what was going on?_ Across the village (and across the street) ANBU were rounding up teams Seven and Eight for immediate assignment.

When they were all assembled in the Hokage's office he told them of an important mission.

"Our spies have gotten word that one of Orochimaru's lieutenants is in the area." At the mention of his name Anko grew hostile.

"One of them is in the area? Why are then genin here then, we should have a team of jonin or ANBU!" she shouted at the Hokage.

"Anko! I know how you must feel about this but listen!" Anko remembered her place as he silenced her.

"This is going to be a B-Ranked mission and so I am sending both teams Seven and Eight. The reason I am sending two genin teams is because of your strengths. Team Eight because you are an assassination, capture and torture team, and Team Eight because of Naruto strength and Kakashi's knowledge of jutsu – to counter theirs." Sasuke got pissed at this.

"What about me! I am an Uchiha! I am better than that pathetic Naruto." The Hokage's anger shone in his eyes.

"What about you! So far all you have done is be a hindrance to your teammates and a waste of my time! Whereas Naruto has killed a Kage, a tailed beast and saved the Land Of Waves from Gato!" he absolutely raged at Sasuke, who for once didn't have anything to retort back with.

"As for your mission; you are to detain him and interrogate him, bring him back to Konoha if need be. Your secondary objective is to gather any information on cursed seals and information for an invasion. Be aware – he has hired over 400 men, however, it is their quantity you should be worrying about, they are only bandits and thugs. You are to leave as soon as possible, we attained this information only a short while ago, but it seems that they are going to wither move out to one of Orochimaru's bases or attack. Naruto, remain behind for a moment, the rest of you are dismissed." Kakashi and Anko went to the operations room to get some extra information while the genin broke up to collect their equipment and head for the gate.

"What is it gramps?" he asked.

"First off, do you know who Orochimaru is?"

"Orochimaru; was one of the three legendary sannin, betrayed Konoha and left, has an unquenchable thirst for jutsu and wants immortality."

"You have a good grasp of who he is yes, have you heard of the curse seal before?"

"I'm aware that Anko has one, and that she doesn't talk about it, other than that, no." The Hokage nodded sagely.

"The curse seal is a forbidden seal created by Orochimaru, it imparts a piece of his soul into the victim, he gains partial control of them when he is in close proximity and can communicate pain to them. But, whoever has one gains great power when they use it. Anko has never used hers, thankfully. Be wary of Sasuke, his thirst for power may lead him to joining Orochimaru – be wary. Secondly, I request that you don't go into your Night Haunter form, if Sasuke or Sakura found out, the council will find out and… we don't want that happening."

"I got it gramps, keep an eye on Sasgay and don't transform, got it."

They reached the encampment by nightfall. Shino, Kakashi and Kiba went ahead to scout it out, they came back and reported in.

"Either the spies were wrong he has recruited more men; there are about 600 life signatures there." Shino told them.

"Hnn, 400 or 600, their just low-life's. I can take them." Sasuke boasted. Anko turned to the semi-circled group.

"Actually Sasuke, you, Sakura and Shino will be covering our escape, Naruto and Kiba will take out the bulk of their forces while Ino, Kakashi and I will be dealing with Orochimaru's lieutenant."

"I am an Uchiha! I will not-" Kakashi came to Anko's defence:

"And Anko is your superior! You will show her respect and follow her orders." Sasuke seethed, they had no right to talk down to him, an Uchiha!

"Alright everyone, we begin our attack in five. Ino, just watch our backs and you'll be fine. The main purpose of this is so you can have some more hands-on experience of using your Mind Transfer jutsu in the heat of battle, you'll extract as much information as you can and then I'll take over from there, okay?" Anko assured her this because Ino was going a little pale, it was her second real mission – a B-Ranked one no less, and 40 metres away was 600 brutes who would do… things to her if they caught her. No, she would look it in the eye, if they caught her, she would be raped, so she won't be caught.

Naruto let his evil side to the surface as they begun the attack, scything bodies apart left right and centre, his evil side was relishing the carnage he was creating – an artist loving his painting. Kiba and Akamaru were battling fiercely, either back to back or doing their deadly fang over fang attack. Kakashi was clearing a path for Anko and Ino by swiping his **Raikiri** jutsu left and right, them following close behind.

Some of the bandits went to run, coincidently into the escape route that Shino, Sakura and Sasuke were holding open. Sakura was deathly pale from having killed, while Shino was fine, his bugs draining them of chakra before they got to him, the ones that did reach him were dispatched by kunai or a deadly taijutsu strike. Sasuke was getting too worked up over the fact that he was finally killing, actually doing a soliloquy about how he 'felt the power flowing through him, and I can finally kill you Itachi!' as he was using way too much chakra in each fireball he made – wanting to see the bandits turn to ashes – he didn't have enough energy to evade the samurai who was charging at him, sword held high. So instead, he did something that only he could do: substitute with a teammate. **(AN: I'm sorry to the author I read that off of, Sasuke switched with Kiba in wave. Dear readers, I didn't come up with that)** Shino was in the middle of his own battle and had no time to do anything; the fierceome swordsman was only a few metres away, his sword ready for blood. The evil part of Naruto's soul grew furious at this show of cowardice; he used the speed he would normally have in his Judge form, he pressed the button on his scythe and launched it at the samurai, at the same time incanting:

"**Lightning Style: Lightning Javelin Jutsu!**" he threw his scythe at lightning fast speeds into the samurai, who, in Naruto's super-fast state, had yet to take a step. Naruto's scythe went into the samurai's body around the sternum, because Naruto threw it with his jutsu behind it – and the samurai not being a tailed beast – the upper half of his body went flying until them impacted into a tree when the jutsu lost effect. As time resumed, Shino watched as the samurai come closer and closer until it seemed as though the upper half of him just disappeared to the left in a flash of lightning, he nodded to Naruto, thanks could be done later, they were in the middle of a battle. Naruto looked around him, Sakura and Shino were getting worn out, Sasuke was barely holding his own, and to his back was Kiba, battered, bruised and exhausted – between him and Kiba, about half the force was dead, Sakura, Sasuke and Shino had killed about fifty in all, and Kakashi and Anko were protecting Ino's body as she went through the Lieutenants mind. On and on the bandits came, ignoring the fact that the two they marched for killed half their army, trampling over their comrades bodies, although Kiba and Naruto had slain many of the enemy force, it was over a period of ten minutes. _We need a decisive attack… I've got it!_

"Kiba! Get behind me! **Earth Style: Earth Wall Jutsu!**" Naruto called the jutsu's name, wanting that extra bit of power behind it, hoping that a chakra-strengthened metre thick earth wall would hold back the closest hundred bloodthirsty berserkers. Naruto took a deep breath from behind the wall; this would take _a lot_ of concentration. He pointed to the sky and shouted:

"**Lightning Style: Call Of The Storm!**" when he said that, the clear night sky filled with angry, black storm clouds, which then split apart as Naruto rained down an electric death upon the bandits, slowly moving the lightning outwards, killing more and more. He had killed another 150 mercenaries before he began to falter, and keeled over, Kiba caught him before he could fall, and lowered him the rest of the way.

"Easy buddy, I got ya." Kiba looked over the now-crumbled wall to see a sight of massive death, smoking bodies scattered the field. By that point, Kiba wasn't fazed with death, but the _smell_, that was something else, knowing the cooked meat was human, with the smell of death creeped him out, luckily the wind blew the other way and the stench was soon gone. Naruto was panting in exhaustion;

"Kiba…huh huh, how, ah… did I do?" He asked, thinking he may have to do battle again soon

"Relax man, they're gone, there's some left, but Kakashi, Ino and Anko have it handled." Naruto smiled up at him.

"You never… did tell me, how you and Ino got together, how long have you two been going out?" Kiba smiled to himself.

"Well, you knew that I liked her, even in the academy, but when we did a few of those D-Rank missions we got to know each other, and on that last C-Rank mission when I saved her, after that, we got kind of close."

"Ha-ha… nice work my man." Naruto was still having trouble breathing, but due to the Kyuubi's regenerative power he left behind, Naruto would be fine in time – it was just his chakra that had taken a large hit.

"Yeah, thanks. You never did tell me – how long have you been seeing my mum?" When Kiba asked this, Naruto's blood ran cold.

"What are you talking about, Kiba?" He _really_ wished he didn't get rid of the Kyuubi now, so that he would be fine enough to run.

"Don't insult me man, I've known for a while."

"But, but how? I mean…" Kiba just smiled at him.

"Hana asked me if there was something going on between you two after you left; hell she thought that's why we didn't see you for ages! I didn't think much of it, but after a year or two, she would always get this look in her eyes whenever I talked about you. I thought it was because she missed you. Then when you did come back, more and more often I'd smell her on you or you on her, then when I came home the other day, your pheromones were all over each other. To be honest? At first I was pissed. You're my best friend, and she's my mum – that crosses so many lines. But then I thought about it from your point of views, you're strong enough to be her mate, you're easily more of an alpha than me, and you seem to love each other, but." At that point he reached in close to Naruto.

"If you ever hurt her, I WILL kill you, no matter what, not even death would stop me." Naruto looked Kiba dead in the eye.

"And if I ever hurt her, I'd let you – but there's no way that's going to happen, I love her too much to hurt her. At least, I hope I don't ever hurt her." Kiba leant back and offered Naruto his hand,

"With that mindset, we'll be fine. Two things though; one, don't ever expect me to call you 'dad', it's even worse that I think of you as my brother, and two, I know that 'love transcends all boundaries', but isn't there a _bit_ of an age gap?" What Kiba said brought a tear to Naruto's eye.

"You think of me as a brother, Kiba?"

"Of course man, you've always had my back, and I've always had yours. That makes me brothers in my book." Naruto stood up and actually hugged Kiba.

"Thank you Kiba, thank you. I only ever had Itachi, and then he left… I think of you as my brother as well… as for the age thing? I've got that covered." When he let go of Kiba, Kiba saw a weird glint in Naruto's eye.

"Why do I think I'm not going to like it?" Naruto shook his head and then sighed.

"I was going to tell everyone at the chunin exams, but since you know about me and Tsume as well, I'll tell you three when we get back. For now though, we should lend Anko and Kakashi a hand." Kiba nodded and stood up. He and Akamaru were about to man/beast clone when they saw Anko, Kakashi and Ino running towards them.

"We got what we came for, as well as the secondary information. Let's move out."

"But Kakashi-sensei, there are still mercenaries over there, shouldn't we finish tem off?" Kakashi shook his head.

"We're ninja Naruto, we are killers, but we're not murderers. We completed our objective and have no reason to stick around, let this be a lesson to you Naruto." Naruto felt a bit bloodthirsty after Kakashi said that, had all of his power weakened his morals? Yes, but he could learn from this.

They were running to their exit when Shino caught up with them.

"Naruto, you saved my life, I am in your debt, if you ever need something from me, ask, and it shall be done." Naruto thanked him and knew that Shino was serious, Anko asked:

"What's he talking about Naruto?" Naruto spotted Sasuke leaning against a tree.

"This, **Lightning Style: Lightning Strike Jutsu!**" lightning shot out from his two fingertips at Sasuke, but he was careful to use a very low voltage, he wanted to hear him scream. After Sasuke screamed for about ten seconds, Naruto stopped the jutsu before flicking the electric arc back open with a much higher voltage, knocking Sasuke unconscious.

"Naruto! What did you do that for!" Kakashi demanded, sure, for a while he _really_ hasn't liked Sasuke, but that doesn't warrant Naruto electrocuting him!

"You all saw, there was a bandit behind him, I missed." Kakashi was about to ask for an explanation again, but Kiba told him what happened, that Sasuke was getting too worked up and a bandit charged at him and being a coward, Sasuke substituted himself for Shino. Kakashi was speechless, he knew that Sasuke had no respect for anyone, but this was a new low for him. Shino put Sakura over his shoulder, she fainted when she smelt cooked humans, Shino was unfazed.

The trip back to Konoha was made mainly in silence, at one point Sasuke woke up; when Kakashi demanded an answer as to why he substituted with Shino, he replied that 'he should be grateful he could help an Uchiha'. To this day Naruto still swears that there was a bandit behind Sasuke, again.

After they delivered their mission report, another council meeting was called, the demon attacked Sasuke – again. After the Hokage heard both sides, he declared:

"There is not enough evidence to say that Naruto attacked Sasuke, and as for Sasuke…" Sakuno turned the situation to her advantage.

"Just as there is not enough evidence to say that _Naruto_ attacked Sasuke, there is not enough evidence to say that Sasuke substituted wit Shino." Naruto was about to protest before Shino put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, and then spoke in a low voice.

"We know what actually happened, that's all that matters. They are just going to twist the situation to your downfall if you protest." Naruto sighed and shook his head. The Hokage spoke again.

"Furthermore, due to these past two incidents and the dismal performance of Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha, Team Seven will be disbanded." Kakashi was quick to defend:

"Lord Hokage you can't do that!... I apologise, Lord Hokage, I forgot my place." The Hokage nodded to him and the council was dismissed.

Later that day Anko, Kakashi and Naruto were called to the Hokage's office when they saw Haku waiting outside.

"Haku? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked. She got up from her seat and walked over.

"I was waiting you three actually, the Hokage said I had my first mission, but it involved you, Anko and Kakashi." They went in and closed the door, upon which the Hokage put a silencing seal.

"First off, as of right now, Naruto and Haku are promoted to the rank of special jonin." Haku was shocked.

"But, Lord Hokage… I have only been here for two weeks, do I deserve this?"

"Yes, because of your ice jutsu, and what Zabuza has taught you, you are being promoted to special jonin. And Naruto, you are being promoted to the rank of special jonin because of your extreme strength and, _unique _jutsu knowledge, but also because elevating you to full jonin level would cause you unwanted attention." Naruto was taken aback; he would have been promoted to jonin?

"The other reason I have called you here is because of the upcoming chunin exams. We have an exact date; it is going to be held in two and a half months' time. From the information acquired in your raid, we know Orochimaru is going to be there, but we don't know how or why." The Hokage explained.

"Actually gramps, he's going to be here for Sasuke." The Hokage shot him a look that said 'explain'

"He has always wanted the sharingan; he will probably lure Sasuke with a promise of power and take the sharingan from him – either by cutting them out, or some other way."

"This is most troubling… Kakashi, the council has given Sasuke a personal sensei, and they are going to ask you to teach Sasuke the chidori, you will have to do this but do not teach him the secrets of your sharingan, understood?" Kakashi was pissed, the council wanted him to teach someone else one of his only self-made jutsu?

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

"Good. Haku, Naruto. While you _are_ special jonin, this fact is not to leave the room, understood? Okay, now, to enter the chunin exams, normally three team members are required – _normally_. You two are going to be Team Thirteen, seeing as Eleven and Twelve are still in service. Your mission is to participate in this year's Chunin Exams and prevent Orochimaru from taking Sasuke, understood?" they both nodded;

"Yes, Lord Hokage." They said as one, Naruto turned to Anko.

"Anko, I know you don't like to talk about it, but may I see your curse mark?" she grew angry at this, how did he know?

"How do you know2 about that?" she was getting angry when the Hokage informed her that it was him who told Naruto.

"I may have a way to remove it." She was shocked, Naruto could remove it? She grabbed him by the collar.

"Kid. You better not be joking about that, not even Jiraiya who is a seal master could remove it."

"I can, just trust me Anko." She let him go and pulled back her collar. The curse mark was like three commas with a ring around them.

"And there's a part of Orochimaru's soul in there, right?" he asked her.

"Kid, you better not fuck with me on this, it's cost me too much. But yeah, it does…" Naruto could tell that she really didn't want to do this.

"Anko, I can remove it-" She grabbed him by the neck.

"Naruto. Think about what you are about to say." He looked deep into her eyes; he saw all of the hatred brought on by it, all the misery and destruction it has caused her. She released her grip on his neck.

"I _can_ remove it. But the price is high…" she grabbed his shirt and pleaded with him as tears fell down her face.

"Please, I'll do _anything_ to get this off of mean. I don't care if I have to fuck you every day until I die, just please, get it off of me." He wiped her tears away.

"You may regret saying that when I am done. It will involve me tearing off a part of your soul, you will die, but I will bring you back."

"I…I have to…die? I'll do anything, just PLEASE take it off.' Naruto nodded grimly.

"Before I do, you have to do one thing. Think of a good memory, the best thing that ever happened to you, you're most powerful and pleasant memory, hold onto it – it might lessen the pain. Kakashi, Haku, please leave, old man, this might turn even your stomach." The Hokage was about to protest but then stopped himself. This was something between them.

Naruto hugged Anko tightly.

"Anko, what I'm about to do to you… the pain you will feel is unforgiveable. I truly am sorry."

"Kid, if this thing goes… I just don't care." He didn't bother arguing with her. He took her coat off and asked her:

"So do you have your memory?"

"Yeah, the day I met Genma…" Naruto smiled.

"Love, it's the most powerful emotion, hold onto that memory. This is where it gets a bit weird, I, kind of need you to take your shirt off – I'm not gonna look!" she just laughed at him and took her shirt off, with him averting his gaze.

"Um thanks, just kneel against the desk, thanks." Despite the situation she had to laugh at his embarrassment. He smiled at her; she could laugh in this situation? He summoned his scythe and poured chakra into the hilt, turning it into an 'I' blade like his normal scythe could.

"**Shinigami Art: Judge Of Death Style: Silent Courtroom**." Within the confines of the office another set of walls came up, this set skeletal and somewhat transparent.

"Remember the first time you met Genma, Anko, remember that love. **Death Style: Soul Snare**." The right arm of his robe faded into nothing and exposed his skeletal arm, no muscle or skin covering it, death chakra holding the bones together. Naruto would never forget Anko's screams, from the moment his hand touched the curse mark, her screams were seared into his memory. His hand disappeared into her shoulder, using death chakra to guide his blind hand to her soul, as soon as he touched it, Anko stopped screaming. All she could feel was the hand of death grabbing at her soul, she began to sweat and tremor, the memory of Genma was doing little to dull the pain, but it was dulling some. Naruto was genuinely shocked when he felt Anko's soul, from the moment he touched the curse mark he was blind to the outside world, instead he saw Anko's life play out before him, memories flicking before his eyes; but that wasn't what surprised him. As he reached deeper the memories became darker and worse, until he saw it: Anko's soul. Whenever someone sees someone else's soul, it always looks like a purple orb… but this. He was taught by Itachi that only the Shinigami could truly see someone's soul, but he was also taught that using death chakra is the equivalent a fragment of the Shinigami's power. Anko's soul was white… pure, suddenly oblivious to all evil in the world, he felt at peace, just… fine. But he knew what he had to do; he kept searching through her soul frame until he found the memory of when he gave her the curse mark. _Anger, hatred, pity, disgust, betrayal._ All of the bad things originated here, her worst memory. He found Orochimaru's soul piece, and just as he could see Anko's pure soul, Orochimaru's was black… malevolent, evil, sickening. Because Naruto himself was partly there, he felt the good half go into a fit of rage.

"HOW DARE HE! THAT BEING IS TOO LOW TO BE CONSIDERED HUMAN! HE IS…EVIL, EVIL INCARNATE!" Naruto tried to keep his good half in control, if he lost control now and passed judgement, he would obliterate Anko's soul as well. Having created a path to her soul, Naruto drew his hand out of her and hefted his scythe, placing the blade at the point of the curse mark, Anko screaming the whole while.

"**Death Style: Soul Sear**." Naruto plunged his scythe into Anko's back, blood spattering onto Naruto; but instead of coming through her breast, the blade continued to her soul frame. He brought it to Orochimaru's soul fragment and poured as much death chakra as he could into his blade, willing for it to work. Ever so slowly, the piece of Orochimaru that was there faded to nothing, until it was but a memory to Anko. Searing someone's soul does not come at a price however, as Naruto drew the blade out of her. She was dead. Luckily, she died by the Judge Of Death's blade, and Naruto judged that she had time left on the earth, and brought her back.

"**Shinigami Art: Space-Time Jutsu! Reverse!**" The large gouge on her back sealed itself back up and she took a great lungful of air, and passed out. Naruto nearly collapsed from exhaustion; the whole process took two and a half hours, two and a half hours of screaming that he would never forget. Somehow, without looking, he put Anko's mesh shirt back on, placed her overcoat over her and carried her out.

The Hokage jumped up from his seat to see Naruto covered in blood and Anko in his arms, Naruto looked extremely tired.

"It's done, she just needs to rest." Kakashi took her from Naruto's arms gently, only after seeing that his patient was in good hands, that he gave himself the luxury of passing out.

The first thing Naruto remembered was lips. Not his, someone else's. Then he remembered his name, the Hokage's' funny hat, ramen and breathing, more importantly, the need for it. He pushed the thing that was crushing him off and breathed deep, his eyes fluttered open and he looked around. He saw the Hokage, Anko, Kakashi, Haku, Hana, Kiba and a very ashamed-looking Tsume. Naruto said the first thing that came to mind, not caring who was around:

"Damn Tsume! I've heard of the 'Kiss Of Life', but that was something else!" That seemed to break the ice between everyone – Naruto was back. Everyone was laughing, but Tsume looked at Naruto with bloodshot and tear-filled eyes.

"I though… I thought I lost you! Please! You can't do that to me!" Tsume was nearly in hysterics, so Naruto hugged her to calm her down.

"Shhh, shhh, its okay, I'm alright now. It's okay." He spoke soothingly to her, most were surprised that Tsume could get so emotional – she always was a tough wolf to everyone else.

"What happened while I was out?" he released Tsume from his hug, but held her hand reassuringly. The Hokage was standing at the end of his bed when he spoke;

"A fair bit actually, you've been out for a week." Naruto was gobsmacked!

"A WEEK! But, I should only have been out for a few hours! A day at worst!" He shouted in surprise, Kiba confirmed it for him.

"Yeah bro, as soon as I told mum and she came down here, she thought you were dead. She hasn't left your side at all." He looked at Tsume who nodded her head. Anko hugged Naruto tightly.

"I can't thank you enough for what you did Naruto… if you ever want _anything_, just ask."

"Hehe, it's fine… but… aren't you angry at me, I mean, I was in your soul… the pain that went with it…" She shook her head.

"Yes it did hurt, but it wasn't an unforgivable amount of pain – well, at the time it was, but, when I came to and saw that it wasn't there, all was forgiven, and then saw what happened to you, I actually felt a bit guilty." He looked puzzled.

"My body? What happened to me?" she pointed at his arm, which was untanned all the way up to his shoulder, almost like he had a new one.

"Apparently, when you finished removing my seal, it was a skeleton arm, they didn't know what happened. It was only when I came-to a day later that it healed… actually, that's the wrong word, reconstructed, more like it. I saw the muscle grow, tendons were put into place, nerves were connected and skin placed on top, it was both interesting and gruesome at the same time." She explained.

"Of course! To get to the soul, my arm had to be pure, the skeletal hand that you saw, well, that was actually death's hand."

The Hokage cleared his throat.

"Actually, that wasn't the only piece of death." He plugged the EKG machine that was next to him in the wall, it flat lined.

"When Tsume came in and heard that, she fainted immediately. When she woke up, and during the whole time you have been here, you have been dead. I think you have some explaining to do." Naruto sighed and nodded.

"I was going to only tell the Inuzuka's, but after all you have seen, I owe you all an explanation. The reason I am so strong, how I can transform, do the Shinigami arts and have death chakra, is because… well, not only am I dead, but I am the Judge Of Death." They looked at him in disbelief, the Hokage motioned for him to continue, so he lifted up his shirt and showed them his scar and continued to explain.

"One way or the other – with the exception of Haku – you all know that people hated me, and hunted me down on my Birthdays, usually beating me to an inch of my life. When I was five, they actually killed me. If it wasn't for Itachi, I would have stayed that way." Kakashi heard this and exclaimed:

"Itachi?! What did that traitor do?" Naruto looked at him with a small amount of anger in his eyes.

"Kakashi. I have a lot of new respect for you; don't lose it by saying something stupid. You don't know everything that happened, but I'll get to that later. As it turned out, he is the Harbinger Of Death, he knew that I was just and had a lot of hidden potential, at least, that's what he told me. He called the Shinigami up and they brokered a deal of some kind, the first time I ever saw the Shinigami was in my mindscape that night, he made a deal with the Kyuubi, if he left my body, leaving behind his enormous levels of chakra and regenerative ability, he would be a guest of the Shinigami, and live in his realm for the next 1000 years, the fox took the deal; for the past eight years, it has just been me." The Hokage was astonished.

"So, for eight years, the people have been treading on you without even their false excuse? Naruto, why didn't you tell me?"

"Even if I told you, nothing would have changed. But having a demon made of pure chakra and emotion – mainly hatred – inside your body for five years takes its toll; it had corrupted part of my soul. The only way the Shinigami would bring me back is if I was the Judge Of Death, seeing as how I was too innocent to kill, he split my soul in half, giving half to the good in me, and half to the bad, allowing me to kill, and shorten the amount of time it would take me to be able to kill myself. Itachi actually told me that when he found me, I was dead – and I was moving; because I gave my word that I would always protect Tsume, my body actually moved to warn her; the villagers were going to kill her, you, because you actually treated me as a human being, so they thought that I had charmed you.

"Back to the case in point, after I was reincarnated as the Judge Of Death, I took on the form that you all see and know as my Night Haunter form, and mercilessly slaughtered those villagers. The part of me that was the Judge, had already passed judgement, their punishment death; because it enables me to see things from all points of view, I could see how they wanted to kill me, but only a low level of intelligence would dictate that you had to die as well. After that night, and every night leading up to the Uchiha massacre, Itachi trained me, everything I know come from him; how to kill, how to live, how to survive, the Shinigami arts, how jutsu work… everything. On the _day_ of the Uchiha massacre, he told me that it would be my last day as his student, he gave me the jutsu I know, revealed who he was and proclaimed me his brother. He had three last requests, one was to give Hana a scroll – I won't go into that as it is a personal matter – the second was to enter the academy early and fail twice; I'm sorry about that gramps, I didn't want to deceive you but it was the best way to keep a low profile, so that no one would suspect me as the Night Haunter." He paused and reflected on that, Kakashi asked:

"And the third?"

"The reason Itachi killed his clan was because they were conspiring to overthrow the Hokage, you, Sarutobi. He was given orders to eliminate every man, woman and child; Itachi didn't want to do it, but he knew that if he didn't, there would be a revolt in Konoha, with the wrong people leading. So he requested the mission, he would kill his own clan, so that no one else had to bear the guilt of exterminating an entire clan. But he couldn't kill his brother, he never actually told me why, but I suspect it was because if he killed Sasuke, then there would be no more Uchiha – after that mission, he wouldn't see himself as one. The third request was that I watch Sasuke grow; if he could put the massacre behind him, I was going to tell him about Itachi, and why he did what he did. If he grew corrupt and had a thirst for power – I was to kill him, and I'm going to." Kakashi and the Hokage were shocked, at some point they could see someone killing him in the heat of the moment, but to say it with such an air of finality!

"I know what you are thinking. Even if I didn't want to do it; I've already given Itachi my word, I can't go back on it. Moving on, the reason I kept telling you all 'you'll find out at the chunin exams', was because of something Itachi told me: when the Judge Of Death holds his title for eight years, he goes to the Shinigami's realm and trains to be his champion – for 15 years." Tsume hugged Naruto and cried into his shoulder.

"You can't go! He can't take you away from me for fifteen years!" she yelled all of this into his shoulder, not caring if anyone else heard. He stroked her back as he hugged her.

"It's okay, Itachi and I figured a way around it." She took her head out of his arms and sniffed.

"*sniffle* you… found a way around it…" Naruto smiled at her.

"Yes, it's okay. For Itachi's Harbinger training, he needed to leave for eight years, he somehow disappeared to Kami-knows-where, and constructed a cave; he placed a barrier around it that distorted the flow of time. Instead of disappearing for eight years, he only left our realm for eight weeks. Because the Harbinger is more battle-orientated than the Judge, he has more death jutsu than I, but because the Judge is the Shinigami's champion, I know more Shinigami arts, and can shorten the time from 15 weeks, to just 15 days." Tsume perked right up after hearing that, but Hana was confused;

"Naruto, if Itachi left this realm for eight years, how come we were the same age?" Naruto laughed to himself.

"I asked him the exact same question when he told me. In your final moments there, the Shinigami gives you a choice: stay your advanced age, or revert to how old you were when you left the human realm. He chose to revert." Hana was shocked.

"So while I'm sixteen, he'll actually be twenty-four this year?" Naruto nodded and then stroked Tsumes hand.

"This will also shorten the gap between us considerably." Although she kept it contained, Tsume was super excited. _Yes, with only a __few__ years between us, we can finally be together, for real._ But then she grew concerned.

"But Naruto, while it will only be fifteen days for me, us; it will be fifteen years without me, will you still remember me?" Naruto's gaze saddened.

"I'll tell you back at the compound, it's between us." Tsume wondered what could make him so sad when Kakashi went over it, just to be sure.

"So you're saying, that: you are dead, you are the champion of the Shinigami – him on earth, don't have the Kyuubi inside you – haven't for years, are going to train for fifteen years, are most likely going to kill Sasuke, and you and Tsume have a thing? Correct?" Naruto ran it all through his head.

"Actually, yeah – ya summed it up pretty good there. But remember, NONE of this can leave this room… it feels good to get it off of my chest though." Everyone filtered out of the room to leave Naruto to his rest. As she was about to leave, Anko turned to Naruto as she remembered something.

"Hey Naruto, I wanted to thank you again – when you put that skeleton hand through me, it left this!" She said excitedly. She turned her back to Naruto and took off part of her shirt, exposing her shoulder. Naruto expected a faint mark, or some scarring, but what he saw shocked him, in its place was a black skeletal hand, with only the bones and gaps between them.

"Sick! Isn't it?"

Over the next month, many things happened to Naruto and his friends…

He and Tsume deepened their relationship by going on nightly walks that usually ended up with them having a passionate tongue battle – Naruto also told her of his Tsukuyomi training.  
Kiba and Ino finally got Inoichi's blessing after Kiba fought a customer who commented on them eating so much (Kiba finally got Ino to eat properly, which she loved) and said 'it's the dog and his fat bitch' – the customer didn't eat for another month.  
Haku even found a boyfriend in Shino. When he asked why she liked him, she replied 'because of my kekkai genkai I have been treated by face value alone for my whole life. I can see who you are, bugs or no bugs'.  
Genma had actually proposed to Anko after he though he lost her when Naruto removed her curse mark, after thanking Naruto to no end, he asked Ibiki to walk her down the aisle – he said yes.

And many people in the village actually respected now, only the most demon hating or Sasuke loving people still treated him like crap – which was still 25% of the population, but he still had 75% on his side. While everyone knew who Naruto was, they each referred to him differently: To Anko's friends he was 'The Right Hand Of Death' (how right they were) due to the tattoo he left when her seal was removed. To some jonin he was the 'Stormcaller' because of his devastating attack in the battle with Orochimaru's lieutenant. To the people of Wave, he was the 'Wandering Hero' or the 'Saviour of Wave'. In Kiri, he was known as 'The Demon Of The Leaf', because only a demon could kill a demon, be it Yagura or the Three Tails. The rebels who were there when he resurrected Mei, he was the 'God Of Death' – who else could bring someone back from the dead?

He was on his way to Ichiraku's to meet up with Tsume when he saw Konohamaru being held up by the scruff of the neck. The guy who was holding him was in a black one-piece with something bandaged to his back, he also had cat ears.

"I should beat you right now for just getting in my way." He said in a joking/menacing tone.

"You might want to put the kid down; I don't think it will help diplomacy with the Leaf if a Sand ninja pummels the Hokage's grandson." The Sand ninja grunted and dropped Konohamaru to the ground. A husky/raspy voice from the tree called to the ninja:

"Kankuro, you're an embarrassment to the village, stop this nonsense, or I'll kill you." Kankuro began to shake a little and baked off a few steps. Sasuke was walking past when he saw this happen, and began to walk over. The voice from the tree belonged to a small redheaded boy with the kanji for 'love' on his head, he had a large gourd slung over his back.

"You, what is your name." Sasuke sneered at him.

"My name is Sasuke… Uchiha." The redheaded boy dismissed Sasuke as though he were a fly.

"I don't care for your name weakling. You, with the scythe, what is your name?" he asked again.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, may I ask your name?" he replied politely.

"You may, I am Gaara of the Sand, he is my brother Kankuro, and the girl behind me is my sister Temari." Naruto looked behind Gaara to see a girl in a white knee-length tunic with blonde hair done into four small open-buns, she also had something on her back – a giant closed fan. Gaara began talking again.

"I knew you had to be strong, Demon Of The Leaf, people talk of a young ninja with a scythe on his back – you. Is it true that you killed the three tails." Though he asked a question, it sounded like a statement.

"Yes, I did. You hold the one-tail, Shukaku the Sand Demon. I also heard that you are an insomniac, who is also somewhat unstable. If I may, could I come by your hotel later and take a look at your seal, I believe that it is the source of your problems, I would like to fix this."

"You would do that for me. Yes, come by the guest house at some point." Naruto and the three sand siblings parted ways, leaving a fuming Sasuke in their wake._ Damn it! I need more power!_

After having lunch with Tsume at Ichiraku's, he decided he had nothing important to do, and went to the Hokage Tower to find out where Gaara was staying. After coaxing it out of the secretary at the Hokage tower and finally getting to his destination, Naruto knocked on the door. The man who opened the door was wearing a jonin jacked and had cloth covering most of his head, with some falling in front of his face.

"Hello, I am-" Naruto was interrupted as the man shakily raised a finger to him.

"T-The Demon Of The Leaves! The God Of Death!" _This child's strength is legendary! He killed not only the Mizukage, but the three tailed demon as well!_ He was about to go into a defensive stance when Gaara called from further in the room:

"Naruto. Back here. Baki, let him pass." Baki immediately pressed himself against the wall; he had no hope of fighting Naruto! Naruto just sighed and held out his hand.

"I'm not here to fight, I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression. Naruto Uzumaki." Baki hesitantly shook Naruto's hand. _A man of such power is bothering with me?_

"I-I am Baki, their jonin-sensei. I am honoured to meet you." Naruto sighed and walked over to Gaara.

"I thank you for this. Not many bother with a demon child." Gaara told him.

"You shouldn't have to thank me; I'm just helping out someone in need. Now, let's have a look at your seal." Gaara lifted his shirt and used a steady amount of chakra, exposing the seal.

"What the – a three element seal isn't enough to bind a demon, and a berserker seal! Whoever did this to you, _wanted_ you to be unstable, do you know who sealed Shukaku into you?" Gaara nodded.

"Yes, my father, the third Kazekage." Naruto looked at Gaara with disgust.

"It's not my place to say, but he is a sick bastard. Who could do this to their own son?"

"You are wrong, Naruto Uzumaki. He doesn't see me as his son, he hasn't addressed me as such since my birth, he sees me only as weapon."

"That's sick! You're a human being, and when I change these seals, we'll prove it to him." Emotion actually played across Gaara's face.

"You would do that, Naruto Uzumaki. You would help a stranger, when you gain nothing." Naruto just smiled at him.

"Of course I would. And besides, by being able to help is my reward. Now." His face turned serious. On each fingertip of his left hand came a blue chakra fire.

"This will remove the berserker seal, but it will hurt. **Shinigami Art: Seal Destruction!**" he jabbed his hand into Gaara's stomach, causing spit to fly from his mouth as he spasmed upwards and began to have a seizure.

"Baki! Kankuro! Hold him down, Shukaku is afraid of me and is trying to escape. If you can hear me Gaara, I'm sorry about this." He held up his right hand and on each fingertip was a different coloured chakra flame: blue for water, red for fire, green for earth, white for wind and yellow for lightning.

"**Five Element Seal!**" He jabbed his right hand into Gaara's stomach, over-riding the three element seal and ceasing his seizure, sending him to a blissful unconsciousness.

"There we go, he should sleep fine from now on, but he probably won't wake up for a few days. If he has anymore seizures, send for me." He nodded his good-day and went to leave, Temari stopped him.

"Wait a second, you mean he's sleeping – right now?! The only other time this has happened Shukaku was released!" Temari was in shock that Gaara wasn't rampaging around trying to kill everyone. Baki bowed deeply to Naruto.

"I cannot thank you enough on behalf of the Sand, our team and Gaara, master Naruto. While we thanked the Kazekage for giving us such a great weapon, we lived in constant fear of Gaara."

"Stop, Baki. If anyone should be bowing, it should be me – you are my superior, a jonin. And if you really want to thank me, treat Gaara as he always has been – a human boy." Baki was amazed; _Such humility! For someone of such power to say that, that I don't have to bow, he truly is humble._ Baki resisted the urge to bow, and instead nodded his head slowly, like a miniature bow. They all thanked him again and he departed, looking for something to was walking for a while before Dante stayed stock-still for a few moments, death chakra seeping off of him. He soon regained himself and pecked Naruto's head and drawled:

"Naruto, don't summon me… it would be bad for us both." Naruto had a few moments to ponder his words before he flew off, Naruto just let him go, this thing had happened before; he would be back in his own time.

**AN: SLIGHT LEMON SCENE COMING UP –SCROLL PAST IT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT!**

He reached the Inuzuka compound as he usually would in the afternoon, he knocked on the door and came on; shouting his usual call:

"Is anybody home! It's Naruto!"

"Up here Naruto!" he heard Tsume shout from upstairs. He gulped, the _last_ time they were upstairs… he walked down the short hall and his prediction cam e true, she was in the bathroom. He walked in backwards.

"Umm, hey Tsume! I ah, don't suppose we could talk somewhere else, could we?" he asked nervously.

"What's wrong Naruto? You've seen me naked before… you're not shy, are you?" She asked coyly.

"Shy? Uh, no, not at all." Tsume smiled to herself.

"Well, if you're not shy, then I don't suppose you could turn around and give me a neck rub? There's plenty of steam, so you won't see… _much_." Naruto steeled himself and turned around, after all, he was going to be in this situation _a lot_ more frequently in the future. He knelt down and began rubbing her neck.

"Oooohhh yeah, that's the spot… this is nice, a _naked_ soak and having your man give you a massage." As she said 'naked' Naruto began to feel that his pants were becoming smaller and smaller.

"At least it's not a full body massage." Naruto thought out loud, much to his shock and horror; he could actually _hear_ Tsumes smile as she said:

"A full body massage… nice thinking Naruto." Naruto had to quickly shut his eyes and turn away as Tsume raised herself from the bath. She put a towel down on top of the marble top they had in the middle of the room – for grooming dogs – laid on top of the towel and placed a towel over her backside – she couldn't show him _everything_ for a second time.

"I'm ready Naruto." She spoke, at the same time her mind was thinking of different situations of where she could say the. He walked over to her, gazing at her slightly squashed breasts. _Man, even after two kids, they've still got good shape to them, not to mention size… snap out of it! Focus on this! Give her a massage, pleasure her._ He was cursing his brain silently, much preferring to be fighting Yagura again – if Hana or Kiba saw this, not even the Shinigami could save him.

He rubbed his hands together vigorously to warm them up before applying them to her back. He started doing small circles, then pushing down into the muscles before pushing forwards and bringing his hands back up. He massaged her back, then her neck, before returning to her back; he noticed that when he went lower down her back, a soft, pleasurable moan escaped her mouth. He was nearing the base of her spine when he figured out that she _was_ getting aroused by this, he directed chakra to his hands and let small vibrations emanate from his fingers. _Holy fuck! His hands are magic! I'm nearly getting off and he hasn't even-_Her pleasurable thoughts were interrupted when Naruto continued going lower, reaching under her towel and placing his hands on her epic arse.

"Nnnnnnaaarutooooooooooo." It was less of a name and more of a moan that came from her throat.

"My arse… it's really sensitive, if you keep doing that, ill…"She was interrupted by a pleasing tremor going through her body. _Did I cum already? _Tsume hadn't orgasmed, but she was well on the road to it.

"Well, I was thinking: we've been getting pretty close to sex for a while now… whilst I don't think we should have sex yet… if you're okay with it… I'll be happy to, y'know, advance our relationship." Naruto spoke to her._ Really? He wants to continue as well? Thank you Kami!_

"I wouldn't mind in the least, go ahead." She said seductively. He pulled her towel back and moved one hand down until he felt her vagina. _Okay, this is it._ He told himself in preparation. One hand kept chakra-massaging her sensitive arse, while the other began circling around her pussy. He kept up his circling ministrations before sliding a finger into her.

"Oooohhhh fuuucckkkkk, yes Naruto!" Her orgiastic encouraging had the desired effect on Naruto; he slid another finger in and pulled them in and out as one, using his chakra-massaging technique the whole time. Tsume felt like she was going to melt into the table! Sure, she hadn't had sex in years, and granted she was a naturally horny woman, but fuck! Naruto was sending her to heaven!

"Nah, yes yes yes! Keep going!" she was moaning and shouting at this point. Naruto sped up his pace, while at the same time he had his thumb flicking her clit. He felt that, while his left hand was keeping her ultra-sensitive, it was being left out, so he had a thought: _well, if we're at this stage, we need to see what's a go and a no-go._ Naruto stopped squeezing and grabbing Tsumes cheeks, instead placing a finger against her back-door and pushed, after a bit of prodding, he thrust his whole finger in her arse. When he did this Tsume actually howled in pleasure and began thrust her hips up slightly. _Allright! It seems that her arse is a go!_ Ever since Naruto had wet dreams about Tsume, his ultimate fantasy was to fuck her in the arse, not because she was an Inuzuka, bit because she had a truly _epic_ arse, and Naruto was _definitely _an arse man!

However, all good things must come to an end, with two fingers in her pussy, a finger in her arse and Naruto's thumb rapidly flicking her clit, Tsume exploded. With a squeal of:

"NnnnaAAAAAAAAAAAAAaarutooooooo!" she orgasmed onto his fingers and into his hands, juices going everywhere. Naruto withdrew his fingers and – being a curious guy – licked Tsumes pussy juice from his hand. _Holy shit! This is better than ramen! I could __**so**__ get hooked on this!_ Tsume was melting into the towel – that had possibly been her best orgasm ever! Naruto was amazed that he could get a woman to do that! As Naruto was walking to the sink to wash his hands, Tsume saw his member sticking into his pants. _Kami it's massive! It must be at least 8 inches long, and 2 thick!_ With his back to her, she silently stood up and walked behind him, pressing her to his back – and reaching down to grab his dick. Naruto froze.

"You've helped me with my problem… how about I help you with yours?" she asked, all the while stroking him through his pants. Unfortunately for Naruto, the heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Hey mum I'm home! What did you scream for?" It was Tsumes turn to freeze, accidentally tightening her hold on Naruto. He jumped forwards a bit and she released him.

"Thank you so much for that, sorry I couldn't pay you back. We can't let Kiba and Hana know about this – what can we do?" She whispered to him apologetically. He quickly lifted her up and ran her over to the bath and put her in, gently.

"It's fine, I'll be over in a while… I don't suppose we could finish this some other time?" Before she had time to reply she heard a knock on the door, Naruto shunshined away just as Hana opened it.

"My scream? Oh yeah, the water! I mean, the water was… too hot! I'm fine, really!" Hana looked at her sceptically, and then saw the towels on the marble top – then the puddle on them, her eyes opened impossibly wide.

"Where's Naruto?" when Tsume didn't answer immediately:

"OH MY GOD! MUM!" Hana shouted, Tsume blushed up a storm.

"You have to tell me ALL the details!" this confused Tsume, she wasn't pissed of the Naruto fingered her mum? Tsume just shrugged and smiled.

"Well, for one, his fingers are _magic_…" As Tsume recounted her tale to Hana (who hung on every word), Naruto was across the village thinking of his partner as well, only, he was trying to 'diffuse the situation' in his pants.

Within a few days, Haku, Naruto and Kakashi were called to the Hokage's office.

"Haku, Naruto. Here are your passes to the Chunin exams; they begin tomorrow at 9am. Kakashi, although this is technically considered an unfair advantage, we must know what you have taught Sasuke."

"Thankfully nothing, yet. The council has demanded that I teach him the chidori and how to use his sharingan, apparently, while he was locked away with his trainers – which I reckon are ROOT ANBU – they put him through strenuous training, the stress unlocked his sharingan." Haku gasped, who hadn't heard of the power of the sharingan? The Hokage just sighed, now that he access to cheap power, he will want more.

"At the risk of sounding like Sasuke, it doesn't matter. I've perfected my elemental jutsu to such a degree that I don't even need to say its name, I don't need hand seals. Sure, it helps, but I usually only think the name and do a movement like what the jutsu is to speed up the chakra process. And when I use my Shinigami arts, even if I did hand seals, he would need death chakra." They were relieved when they heard that. The Hokage gave them some advice about what they might expect, but didn't go so far as to tell them anything about the _actual_ chunin exams – but he did say that Naruto would like the proctors.

So the next morning, with pass and cryptic message in hand, Naruto and Haku made their way to the part of the academy that would house the chunin exams. They entered a scene that had a girl in a pink Chinese dress with a 'panda bun' hairstyle on the floor.

"Please let us through, we need to get in there for the chunin exams!" she exclaimed to the two genin there, that looked oddly familiar to Naruto. A boy came to his teammate's aid, he had a bowl cut, HUGE eyebrows and a green… well, let's just call it a 'suit'.

"Please, there is no need to be rude. We only want to pass by here to take the exams." He too was pushed back, scraping his hands on the grounds.

"Don't even bother, you are all too weak, people die in this exam, did you know that?" The whole scene looked somehow _off_ to Naruto; he sent out a small chakra pulse and saw why. He helped the girl and boy to their feet.

"Nice idea to genjutsu on some scrapes, but it won't be necessary. This is the second floor, not the third." Everyone was talking like he was crazy, but Haku caught on.

"Naruto's right, we're all in a genjutsu on the second floor." The two chunin looked annoyed at Haku and Naruto, before laughing and poofing to reveal two chunin, one with spiky hair and tape across his nose, the other wore his headband in a bandana with hair falling over his face.

"Nothing gets past you, does it Naruto. I see your going into the exams with Haku, good luck - You're going to need it." Naruto smiled at Izumo and Kotetsu, they had always been friendly with him, some of the time Kotetsu even hid him in the gatehouse when he was running from the aftermath of a prank. The boy thanked Naruto as he was helped up, and then struck a 'nice guy' pose.

"You are a nice guy! You must be strong too, to be able to see through that genjutsu. I am Rock Lee, this is Tenten Hiragushi, what is your name?" He asked, happiness and exuberance in his words.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, this is Haku Momochi." Haku smiled at Tenten and Rock. Some of the people gasped, _they _knew who Naruto was. Tenten looked at them, a bit confused.

"I only see two of you, where is your third member?" Naruto held up his pass that had SPECIAL stamped on it.

"We're a special case; we are allowed to go in with only two members." Naruto then heard a voice that he really didn't want to hear.

"But I'm so powerful that the council let me go in by myself." Naruto groaned at Sasuke's arrogance, but Haku defended them from the unsaid comment – 'you're weak to need more than one person'.

"That's because the council wants your petty sharingan, they had to let you in by yourself – no one else would stand being on a team with you!" Most people laughed, the ones who didn't were afraid of some political backlash – they knew that Sasuke had the council at his beck-and-call.

"Why you little wh-" He was interrupted by a kunai at his neck – Holy shit! No one had even see Naruto move! He just vanished then reappeared in the same second!

"Remember what happened last time?" Naruto spoke in a low voice. A boy who was leaning against the wall laughed, then commented cynically.

"Pathetic, you are revealing your skills over petty words." He had brown shorts, a pale jacket, a headband with straps on it, and two white eyes – a Hyuuga. Sasuke grew annoyed.

"And just who are you? With your pitiful Byakugan?" The boy laughed again.

"I am Neji Hyuuga, Sasuke Uchiha. By the way, everyone knows that the Byakugan is superior to the Sharingan, so if you are calling the Byakugan pitiful, what are you calling the sharingan? Let's go team." This signalled the end of their discussion, and most people walked up the stairs to the next level. Sasuke grabbed Rock by the arm.

"You are actually stronger than most people here, but you are nothing compared to my power. Fight me, and I'll show you how weak you are."

**Insert fight between Sasuke and Rock from the anime, it got stopped and Naruto and Haku have just passed through the third floor doors.**

**Sha-Bang! Chapter eight down! Was the lemon too much? 'cause there will probably be more of them in future chapters. The next chapter will cover the first two parts of the chunin exams, and either start to go into his 15 year training, or just cover the lead up to that. So yeah, there will be heaps of fighting next chapter, will Orochimaru get Sasuke? Or will he get pimp-slapped by Tsunade? Find out in a few days! **

**Keep looking for the next chapter: 09 – The Chunin exams!**

**DEATH TO FALSE METAL!**


	10. 09 - The Chunin Exams!

**To reply to Lightning-Squall there WILL be more ****_actual_**** lemonness (insert perverted giggle), to RedHotMito, thanks for that – I should have actually looked it up. To Camster3100, it's okay, the only ACTUAL pairing will be Naruto and Tsume, I just use Kiba and Ino to help the story along, like when they were assembled by the ANBU, and I put Shino and Haku together, well, Shino never gets any lovin' and I reckon Haku's a boss, Tsunade and Jaiaiya won't be together, you don't need to worry about it, the story is focused on Naruto and Tsume, little spoiler for the next chapter: remember what I write after Orochimaru escapes in this chapter. J**

**Yo. Welcome back to 'Champion Of The Shinigami'. This chapter will see Naruto, Haku and the gang go through the first two parts of the chunin exams, so we will see a bit of orochimaruness and Sasuke being a tosser – but during the forest of death part, I will try and do it from other peoples view points, other than just Naruto's.**

**I don't own Naruto, if I get around to it, I ****_might_****, but I'll probably be too lazy to do that.**

**Recap:** Sasuke has just fought Rock, Guy interrupted the fight. Naruto and Haku have just opened the doors to the chunin exam room… DUNH DUNH DAHHHH!

Naruto and Haku walked into the room to find Team Eight and Team Ten close to the door, staying away from the hordes of other menacing genin. Kiba called out to Naruto:

"Hey Naruto! You made it! I didn't think they'd let you after Team Seven disbanded, so is it you three?" Kiba pointed behind Naruto to Sasuke, who grunted and leaned against a wall.

"Kami no! Me and Haku are a team, the emo is by himself." Sasuke didn't bother arguing, he wouldn't waste his breath on those that were beneath him. Haku looked at the people who she had gotten to know over the last two months. There was Kiba, Ino, who she had been really good friends with because of Naruto, there was her boyfriend Shino, she was one of the few people who had actually seen him smile, then there was Team Ten, who while she knew well, she didn't really hand out with them much.

There was Choji Akimichi, a kind, rather large boy who wore a green jacket over a cream shirt, he had a white scarf and wore his head band around his head, but in a unique way so that to large clumps of hair shot out. Then there was Hinata Hyuuga, she wore blue pants and a large cream jumper, she had her headband around her neck like a neck-tie, and her hair was blue in a princess cut. Last but not least was Shikamaru Nara, he was one of the laziest people you would ever meet, but he had an IQ of over 200! He had brown pants and an open light-brown jack over a mesh shirt, his Leaf plate was pinned to a sleeve and his hair was in a pineapple spike.

They were all talking for a while about what the exam may contain when a boy walked up. He looked about 18 or 19 with silver hair and large glasses.

"You might want to keep it down, everyone's looking at you." They then looked around to see all of the other genin staring at them, eying them like fresh prey.

"My name's Kabuto, Kabuto Yakushi." Ino asked him:

"So is this your first time doing the chunin exams too?" he laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Actually, this is my seventh time doing it. They hold them twice a year, so this will be my fourth year." He explained. Sasuke walked from his spot against the wall and asked Kabuto:

"How could someone fail six times? You are weak." Sasuke stated.

"Weak or not, I know everything about everyone here, including you. Sasuke Uchiha." This made Sasuke pay attention.

"If you have information on everyone here, tell me everything you know about Rock Lee, Gaara of the Sand, and Naruto Uzumaki." He sneered at Naruto, who listened in as well – what did Kabuto know?

"Aw, that's no fun, you know their names. Let's see." He got out a deck of orange cards, swiped one from the top and spun it on the floor.

"Rock Lee, he is a second year genin. His teammates are Tenten Higarshi and Neji Hyuuga. He has no skill in ninjutsu or genjutsu, but his taijutsu levels are of a high chunin level. He has been on 48 D-Rank mission, 26 C-Ranks and one B-Rank. An impressive ninja, to be sure." He swiped another card and spun it.

"Gaara of the Sand, he is a first year genin like youse; his teammates are his brother and sister, Kankuro and Temari. This is strange… it doesn't say anything about his tai- nin- nor genjutsu levels. He has completed 52 C-rank mission, 12 B-Rank missions, and one A-Rank mission, and it says here that he has completed all mission without a single scratch." That got the people talking – he's completed an A rank mission without a single scratch? Kabuto picked up another card and spun it.

"Alright, Naruto Uzumaki, also known as the Demon Of The Leaf, Wandering Hero, God Of Death, Death's Right Hand, The Saviour Of Wave and the Stormcaller." A group of Iwa nin listen in even further – like most of the ninja there, they had heard of and feared Naruto's powers, but they also hated him because not only did he look too much like the fourth Hokage, but he also had a devastating lightning jutsu as well. Kabuto continued.

"He has one team mate on Team Thirteen, Haku Momochi, after Team Seven disbanded. He has… this can't be right, his ninjutsu levels are that of a jonin, and his genjutsu and taijutsu are sannin level! Impossible! How can my cards be wrong, it also says that he has completed 20 D-Rank missions, 2 B-Rank missions, an A-Rank mission, and 3 S-Rank missions! And he's a first year genin as well!" Everyone looked on at Naruto in awe and disbelief – how was that humanly possible?!

"It also says that he has another chakra type, called-" The reason he didn't finish talking was because he was in half on the ground. As soon as Naruto heard about the S-Rank missions, he knew something was up. When Kabuto started talking about his death chakra, he knew that Kabuto was a spy, so he used his Judge speed, materialised behind Kabuto and sliced upwards, from groin to brain. A fair few of the genin puked at his execution, especially those that were covered in his hot blood.

At the front of the classroom there was a big cloud of smoke; Ibiki was leading the large crowd, and when he saw Kabuto get sliced in two, he shunshined behind Naruto and held a kunai to his neck – all the while knowing that he had no hope of even wounding Naruto.

"Uzumaki! Any reason why you just cut a fellow Leaf ninja in two!" Naruto calmly picked up the card in Kabuto's dead hand.

"He may have been a Leaf ninja, but he wasn't on our side. He knew S-Ranked secrets that only the Hokage and myself were aware of, S-Ranked secrets are punishable by a summary execution." Ibiki removed the kunai from Naruto's neck – he was in the right. Ibiki shunshined back to the head of the room as Naruto wiped the blood from his Ibiki-style jacket.

"With that incident behind us. I am Ibiki Morino, the proctor for your first exam. Take a seat and listen up, because I'm only going to say this once!" Ibiki started wring on the chalkboard.

"Rule number one: You begin with a perfect score of ten points, for question missed or failed, you lose one mark"

"Rule number two: If you finish the test with no marks, your whole team fails the exam!"

"Rule number three: if you are caught cheating, two marks will be deducted, if you are caught cheating three times, your whole team, fails!" He looked around the room to make sure the message sinks in.

"The tenth and final question will be handed out in the last fifteen minutes. BEGIN!" Everyone turned over their papers and began the exam. _This exam is more about intelligence gathering than the actual questions, they even let you cheat, more emphasis you made on getting caught, rather than doing it outright. I can only answer 6 of these questions, and I completed the ANBU exam with ease… but, if the exam is more about intelligence gathering… then it's all about the tenth question._ Naruto began drawing on his test paper, knowing that it didn't matter.

All around the room, people were figuring out that the only way they could pass, was if they cheat. Ino Mind Transferred into someone who knew the answers, Kiba was communicating with Akamaru, Shino was using his bugs, Neji and Hinata were using their Byakugan, Shikamaru actually figured the answers out and shadow possessed Choji, Sasuke was using his sharingan, Tenten threw kunai with a mirror attached into the roof and by using wires she was able to control it to give her and Rock the answers. Kankuro was using his puppet as one of the examiners, Gaara used his Eye Of Shukaku to see the answers of other people, and then controlled the sand to write them on Temari's paper while Haku used an ice mirror.

Over the 45 minute period, many squads were caught cheating and were thrown out, then it was time for the tenth question.

"It is time for the tenth and final question, however, with a new question comes new rules. If you answer this question correctly, all nine other questions will become void and not matter. If you don't want to answer the question, you may leave along with your team." They looked at each other confused, why would they not answer the question?

"However. If you choose to stay, but answer the question incorrectly… YOU MAY NEVER TAKE THIS EXAM AGAIN!" Temari jumped up and shouted at Ibiki:

"What! But some of these people have taken the test before!"

"Yes, but they were never lucky enough to have me as proctor, you do." Some team-mates couldn't handle the pressure and quit, taking their team with them. Ibiki made sure that he weeded out as many as he could before announcing:

"Alright then, for those of you remaining, you all… PASS!" A Kumo nin jumped up.

"But what about the tenth question?" Ibiki slammed his hand down on a desk and laughed.

"HAHAHA, there never was one!"

"What do you mean!" Ibiki grew serious once more.

"Your decision to stay or leave was the tenth question; those who stayed answered it correctly. It's simple if you thought about it, but that was the point of this exam, to keep you on your feet, feeding you misinformation."

**Insert Ibiki's speech about putting your life on the line**

As Ibiki finished his speech, a window broke and a green cannonball hit the middle of the room, the cannon ball turned out to be Anko with a banner wrapped around her which she immediately spread across the front of the room (hiding Ibiki) that said ANKO MITARASHI! SEXY PROCTOR FOR THE SECOND EXAM!

"C'mon everyone! Follow me!" she shouted happily. When she noticed everyone looking at her funny, Naruto burst out laughing, then an annoyed voice could be heard from behind the banner.

"Anko. You're early, _again_." Anko looked around the room ad saw how many people there were.

"Ibiki, how come there are so many people left? Are you getting soft old man?" she asked him.

"No, maybe they're just a better crop this year." Anko 'hmph'ed at him.

"Well kiddies you should have dropped out, because by the time I am done with you, more than half of you will be dead. Follow me everyone!" when she said this most of the candidates gasped – over half of them would die?

A short while later Anko had everyone assembled in front of Training Grounds 44.

"This is Training Grounds 44, or as I like to call it, The Forest Of Death! Before we start the second exam, you will be asked to sign these waivers, stating that neither me nor the Leaf village will be responsible if any of you die, accidental or otherwise." A shinobi from Iwa stuck his hand up and asked:

"So does that mean that we're freely allowed to kill?" Anko nodded her head.

"Yes. For this exam, each team will be given a scroll, either a Heaven scroll." She held up a white scroll.

"…Or an Earth scroll." This time she held up a black scroll.

"The objective is to reach the tower in the middle of the forest with both scrolls, so you have to fight at least one other team for the opposite scroll. You have a time limit as well; it must be accomplished within 5 days. Once you have signed the waiver, go to the tent over there to get a scroll, then go to your designated gate and wait for the siren to blare, when it does, it's open season."

"Alright Haku, I've got an idea. If we get a scroll within the first day, we can tail Sasuke and see what Orochimaru does, that okay?" Haku nodded, although he always asker for her opinion in what they would do, she rarely came up with a better idea.

"Yeah, it's good. Im just worried about Orochimaru, while you may be able to take him on hands down, I can't." She confessed. Naruto patted her shoulder.

"Haku, I won't see any of my friends die, besides, if you died, Shino would get his bugs to feast on me – that's something I generally try and avoid." Haku laughed at his joke, relieving some of her tension. But she knew that he was serious, he wouldn't let her die. With themselves ready, they waited for the siren.

"Oh man! What are we going to do for food! Five days! Even with my emergency rations, I'll only last three!" Choji exclaimed, while munching on some chips. And by 'rations' he meant more chips.

"S-Shikamaru, I am also worried about our f-food supplies." Hinata agreed in her usual timid voice.

"What a drag, you guys made me leader? Oh well… I've been to the Forest Of Death before, there's plenty of animals we can eat, I know where there's a small lake as well." Shikamaru told them, and with their food problem covered, they waited to begin.

"Kiba, Ino. I suggest we wait near the tower and ambush a finishing team, they will have two scrolls and they will be weakened as well. I can command the insects of the forest to tell who is around us, too."

"Good idea with the bugs, it'd pretty funny if we ambushed Naruto and Haku!" They laughed at that, but while they knew that Naruto was the most powerful person there, there were a lot of people stronger than them. They were on their guard, they knew that they could die, and they too waited for the impending siren.

A Kusa team was listening to their leader:

"Find Sasuke and report his location to me, I will also place the curse mark on Uzumaki, his legendary strength would make him a good vessel for me." As the mysterious ninja made his orders, the siren finally went.

68 ninja went into the forest at that point; only 19 would make it to the tower alive.

Anko wanted to relax, she really did. With sake in her left hand and a stick of dango in her right, normally she would call this heaven but there was one thing stopping her – Orochimaru. The Hokage told her that he would try and infiltrate the Forest, but other than that, he gave no clue as to when, where or how he would get there, he did say that Naruto and Haku were going to be hunting him down. Naruto, that was another reason why she couldn't relax. Not only did he remove her curse mark, but he brought her back to life as well; and now he was going after Orochimaru. She was already indebted to him, and for him to go after Orochimaru without her being able to provide any valuable information, just seemed wrong to her. An ANBU shunshined into the towers office.

"Anko, we have a lead on Orochimaru, come quickly!" _Finally_ she thought, _I can pay you back Naruto._ She grabbed onto the ANBU's arm and they shunshined to an old part of the village where they met the Hokage.

"Orochimaru's handiwork, I'm sure of it." He pointed to three massacred ninja that were lying against some stones.

"The ninja from Kusagakure! I thought that Grass nin was familiar! I have to warn Naruto." She shunshined into the forest, intent on finding Naruto and telling him this.

Naruto and Haku were currently observing Sasuke from a distance, they had swiftly massacred 4 teams within the first two hours, the first, second and third teams all had heaven scrolls, the fourth had an earth scroll – they were free to observe Sasuke and had found him gloating over three Kumo nins' corpses. Naruto felt a chakra signature approaching with speed towards Sasuke's position. At the last minute Sasuke noticed it too, he jumped out of the way of a giant charging snake. When it turned to Sasuke it reared its head back and hissed at him, spitting poison at the same time. Now that it had stopped Sasuke saw that it was at least 8 metres think and 40 metres long! Due to his sharingan being activated, he saw the chakra in the poison and swiftly dodged it.

"**Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!**" After performing the required handsigns, he drew in a large breath and shot a large fireball at the snake, melting its face and killing it instantly.

"Hnn, that'll teach you not to mess with an Uchiha." He shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking away; as a man walked out of the snake's body.

"Why Sasuke, that's not very nice, you killed my pet." His voice was laced with malevolence that could easily be mistaken for kindness. Sasuke spun and blew a fireball at the newcomer.

"**Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!**" The fireball flew straight at the man and it exploded. When the smoke cleared, to Sasuke's horror the man still stood and he had a hurt expression on his face.

"Sasuke, why are you so mean to me? I just want to give you a gift." This made Sasuke wary, but he was enticed nonetheless.

"What kind of gift… What's the catch?" The man giggled to himself.

"Sasuke, there is no catch. I just want to give you power, and if you like it, just ask for more. That's all." All suspicion was erased by a hunger for power.

"Alright then, give me your power and I'll ask for more. What's your name so that I can call for you." he began walking towards the man when the man's neck stretched towards Sasuke.

"Why, it's Orochimaru!" when he said his name his head extended towards Sasuke and he bit him on the neck.

"Sasuke, no!" Naruto jumped from his tree – he didn't care if Sasuke was bitten, he just needed Orochimaru to lower his guard.

"Demon Of The Leaf, I don't believe we've had the pleasure. I am Orochimaru, would you like more power to?" this made Naruto stop.

"You'll give me power? Just like that?" Orochimaru walked towards Naruto.

"Of course I will, friends share – you are my friend, aren't you?" He kept walking towards Naruto, who had a crazy look in his eye, Orochimaru thought it was a lust for power.

"We'll be friends if you give me power!" Orochimaru was laughing evilly on the inside;_ hahahahaha, making him my pawn will be even easier than I thought! He craves power like all the powerful before him!_ Orochimaru bent down and bit into Naruto's neck. In reply Naruto let out a pleasurable moan and softly embraced Orochimaru's sides.

"MMMmmmmppphhh I didn't think you were kinky enough to bite me, that sends shivers up my spine." Naruto's sensual grip turned into one of iron.

"W-what!? You should be marked! What is going on!" Orochimaru tried to struggle free but Naruto wouldn't relent.

"What's wrong Orochimaru? Friends share, don't they?" He asked innocently before he turned serious.

"Anko sends her regards, you fucked up peddo. **Shinigami Art: Judge Of Death Style: Seal Of Torment!**" he bit down into Orochimaru's neck, when he lifted his fangs, a skull on his neck could be seen. He let go of Orochimaru who jumped back, clutching at his neck; at the same time Anko burst out from the trees.

"Naruto! It's the Kusa ninja, he's Orochimaru!" She then looked at the situation, the Kusa nin! She was too late!

"Ahhh Anko, so nice of you to join us…hn?... Why are you not on the ground! Your curse mark should be on fire!" She smirked at him and revealed the hand mark that Naruto left.

"Naruto removed it, I'm finally free of you… now, why are you here?" she demanded. Orochimaru was determined not to show anger, not to give her satisfaction, _but how! Part of my soul was left behind!_

"I'm just here to leave Sasuke a gift, that's all. And do tell dear old Sarutobi not to stop the exams, otherwise I'll burn the village to the ground. One last thing Anko, YOU'LL NEVER BE FREE OF ME!" He extended his neck toward her, intent on giving her another curse mark. Before he could get even half-way to her, Naruto activated his Seal Of Torment. Orochimaru stopped, what he felt, that weak emotion – pain, and it coursed through every nerve and vein in his body.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" His screams came from the very depths of his soul.

"This seal makes it feel as though lava is coursing through your veins, it electrocutes your nerves, and even the slightest breeze will feel like a sword cut on each single cell – but it does no real damage, this is all in your mind." Orochimaru again felt something that he had not experienced since his days as a genin, fear. Fear that he was going to die, that he would return to the earth, to decay and be eaten by worms, rather than have completed his objective and attained immortality. Anko actually felt a slight pang of sympathy for him; not as her sensei, not as a sannin, researcher, monster or man, but because he was _mortal_, she knew that his dream was immortality, and to be bathed in the realisation that it wouldn't happen, ever, she felt was a bit harsh. But it was only a pang, in the same instant that she felt sympathetic, she remembered what he did to her, both when he was in the village and when he left. She could never feel sorry for that monster, she would plunge a kunai into his heart.

"Alright Naruto, let's finish this." She began to walk from behind him before he threw an arm in front of her.

"Anko, don't. If you kill him, he will die content – knowing that in the moment you kill him, he'll see you as he was, a monster."

"But Naruto! The things he's done! He deserves death!" Naruto looked at her, still keeping the seal active.

"Anko, if you really want to repay me for removing your curse mark, don't kill him. Yes, he deserves death, but believe me when I say that his wish will be granted – he will be immortal, the Shinigami will torture his soul for all eternity for the things he has done." Anko was at a standstill, she would do anything to repay him, but the man she wanted to kill was right in front of her, a weak and easy target. _Kami… Naruto was right, even the want to kill him turns me more like him._ She nodded to his request. He turned to Orochimaru.

"I know that it will torture you even more to know that I will always be with you, watching you and waiting, hurting you at your most vulnerable. I will let you live, so that you may suffer the humiliation of defeat, knowing that you were marked as Anko was. But understand, that if you ever come after Anko again, I will go to the Shinigami's realm and rape your mind, I will make the curse mark feel like a slap on the face compared to what I will do to you. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!" When he spoke the last sentence, he deactivated the torture mark, all pain instantly because it was in his mind, but then crushed Orochimaru's body under kilotons of concentrated chakra.

"I….Un….derstand…..but….youuuuuuu…..ma…ke…the…..mi iiiistake….of…leav…ving… me…alive!...I…will…mak..e…you…my….p…awn…I..will….b urn… !" Orochimaru squeezed his words out from under all of the pressure. The moment Naruto released his hold on him, Orochimaru retreated, holding his tongue, biding his time until he could have his revenge, which was a lot sooner than Naruto would think.

They gathered up Sasuke's body, Naruto gave her to Anko, showing her the curse mark.

"Damn it! Can you remove it?" Naruto shook his head

"I can, yes, but I refuse to. I won't tell you the reasoning behind this, sorry." Anko was going to protest, but instead respected Naruto's reasoning and shunshined Sasuke to the tower.

Naruto jumped back into the trees and found Haku where he left her; they earlier agreed that it would be safer for Naruto to confront Orochimaru while Haku would hang back to protect their rear from any ninja that Orochimaru may have as backup. Naruto found her looking slightly pale and shaking.

"Haku! Haku! What's wrong?" he shook her, which seemed to bring some colour back to her cheeks.

"Yeah, when Orochimaru came into the area, he put up a genjutsu; I saw my own death…" Naruto saw her begin to shake again, so he hugged her tightly and began to rub her back.

"C'mon, we've finished out mission, let's check on the others – we'll get Shino, he'll perk you up." Naruto knew that the effects would wear off soon, but from personal experience, he knew it was better to have someone you were close to nearby.

**Elsewhere in the forest:**

Ino was worried, after Akamaru was knocked out, one of the sound ninja came towards her, seeing her as the easiest prey – which she sadly was. While she was afraid, she wasn't going down without a fight.

"**Water Style: Water Whip Jutsu!**" After she performed the handsigns and called the jutsu's name, she whipped it around to the sound kunoichi, but Ino only scored a minor wound on the ninja's arm before she deftly dodged out of the way. The enemy ninja threw a pair of senbon at Ino, Ino ducked and they hit a tree behind her.

"If you want to beat a Leaf nin, you're gonna have to do better than that!" She called out cockily. The sound Shinobi just smirked and pulled on the wires that Ino just noticed were attached to the senbon, making them jingle.

"Oh really?" Ino felt kind of woozy, she started seeing double and got a mind numbing headache.

"See the bells on the wires? I can manipulate them to disturb the water in your ears, putting your mind off-balance." She tugged on the wires again, setting off another jingle, Ino began to see triple. _No! Move you damn body! I can't always have Kiba saving me!_ She then looked over to Kiba and saw that he was struggling with his fight. _I only have one shot…_ she fell to the ground, both purposely and as a result of the sound attack. She quickly made her hands into a box form – as though she were holding a sandwich – and pointed them at the ninja.

"**Mind Transfer Jutsu!**" She successfully took over the kunoichi's body and ran over to Kiba's fight. The sound ninja he was fighting had a bandaged face, a large white fur over his back and a sonic weapon on his right arm. He jumped back and turned to Ino;

"Kin, finished with the girl? Good, help me take this one down, he keeps getting back up." Ino nodded.

"You got it." The ninja immediately jumped away, gauntlet at the ready.

"Who are you? Kin would never speak like that." He ran forwards to her with his arm cocked back, Ino knew she was no good in taijutsu, but she had to protect Kiba – who was struggling to get up – and hope that Shino could help. She crossed her arms and took the strike head on, which didn't seem to hurt all that much; then she began to shake.

"W-what's going on?...I feel….wrong…Uhhhh." she keeled over and began to vomit, her insides churning.

"That's the power of my Melody Arm. it doesn't do much damage physically, but it's sonic attack can vibrate your cells apart – lucky for you, I don't like killing little girls, I can't say the same for Zaku over there, but I'll cut you some slack. Get out of Kin's body, gives me your scroll and I'll let you live." She quickly got out of Kin's body; it was in worse condition than hers anyway. They then heard a ghastly scream.

"AAAAAAAAAHhhhhhhhhhhh! My arm! What did you do!" Zaku shouted at Shino, his left arm mangled and holy. _Damn, I could only jam up one._

"My kikaichu beetles blocked up your little wind holes, so that the next time you used another of your attacks, it would blow back into your arm, breaking bone and piercing skin. Regrettably, they could only jam one, but that's more than enough to take you down." He proclaimed.

"Oh yeah! **Slicing Sound Waves!**" The attack would have hit Shino, were it not for the hail of senbon that hit Zaku in the back, throwing off his aim at the last moment – destroying trees and branches, but not Shino. Haku jumped in front of Shino and checked if he was alright, Orochimaru's genjutsu having worn off.

"Shino! Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, egh." He dropped to one knee, holding his side. Haku looked under his hands to see a large gash with a clean cut – a sonic attack.

"You bastard! **Demon Ice Mirrors!**" 21 ice mirrors appeared around Zaku, a Haku in each one. The sound nin with the Melody Arm called to Zaku.

"Zaku you idiot! Get out of there! Don't you have any idea who these people are!? She's the Ice Maiden, and this one… is The Demon Of The Leaf! We have no chance!"

"Shut up Dosu! They're just kids! I can take them one handed! **Slicing Sound Waves!**" his sonic attack hit two of the mirrors, rebounded and sheared through one of his legs, giving way to another scream. Haku ignored him.

"These aren't just any normal mirrors; they either stop a jutsu, or reflect it. It's time for you to die." She said these words calmly, and then everyone watched as over the next seven minutes she impaled Zaku with over two thousand senbon, all in non-lethal places; it was only gravity that killed him, his barely-there leg couldn't take the weight of both him _and_ the senbon, snapping off and letting him fall to the ground – pushing half of the senbon through his body, mercifully killing him.

Dosu was shaking in his boots at the power of her, and that The Demon Of The Leaves was standing next to him. He fearfully turned towards Naruto.

"I-I-I'm going t-to leave th-these scrolls. And t-take my t-team mate w-with me." He had to pause and swallow to stop himself from stuttering. Naruto nodded at him, and with Kin over his shoulder he disappeared into the forest, looking for a Heaven and an Earth scroll.

Knowing that their friends were okay, and had scrolls enough to get to the tower. Naruto shunshined he and Haku to the tower, they still had to make sure Orochimaru didn't come back for Sasuke.

**Tower, half an hour earlier.**

Anko was watching over Sasuke in the tower infirmary when an ANBU shunshined next to her.

"Anko, we are sure we are mistaken, but we require you to see this." Anko was annoyed that the ANBU didn't give her a full explanation, but went with him anyway. He shunshined her to the security room and played a video from downstairs, five minutes ago. It showed Gaara, Kankuro and Temari walking in.

"What?! How could he have finished so fast?" She knew about Naruto and Haku, and expected them to finish early, they weren't even here yet – and this team shows up!

"Anko, they not only beat the record by two days and three hours, but look at the boy with the gourd. He doesn't have a single scratch on him!" Anko was amazed that someone could finish so fast, _and_ have no wounds. She spoke in a soft voice to the ANBU, still shocked.

"Ibiki was right tough, Bear. This year's group of genin are something else.

**4 days later, tower – main hall.**

As Shikamaru and Hinata carried a wounded Choji between them through the halls of the tower, they were shocked. They had arrived with twenty minutes to spare, having been attacked by a team of Rain nin outside the tower, looking for an easy scroll-grab. They won the fight, but Choji's left leg was littered with needles, so he needed help to finish the final stretch. When they arrived in the main hall, they only saw 16 other genin.

"Only 19 of us got here? What a drag, I guess Anko was right, a lot of us would die." They sat Choji against a wall and began talking with the other surviving ninja. A short while after, the Hokage, jonin and some jonin-sensei's arrived. The genin divided into ranks as the Hokage began his speech.

"First off, I would like to congratulate you all for making it this far, and-" he was interrupted by a jonin shunshining next to him.

"Perhaps *cough* *cough* I should continue from here *cough* Lord Hokage?" asked the sickly jonin. The Hokage nodded his answer.'

"I am *cough* Hayate Gekko, proctor for *cough* the preliminaries." Ino piped up;

"Preliminaries?! Why did we come all this way for preliminaries!" she shouted at him.

"*cough* the reason we have preliminaries *cough* is *cough* we didn't expect this many of you to survive."

"You mean, you expected more of us to die!" Ino shouted back.

"Well, *cough* when you put it like that… *cough*" Protests aside, they all knew that the chunin exams would be hard, and that a lot would die.

"So *cough* we are going to have some one on one *cough* fights to determine who *cough* will advance to the finals. Those who feel they *cough* can't continue, may back out now. Those who are staying *cough* I ask you and the jonin to *couch* move to the stands." People began filtering onto the stands, as this happened, Choji said that he would quit due to his leg. As he was being stretchered out, Asuma walked with him. Choji grabbed him by the shirt.

"Asuma-sensei… I'm not gonna make it… last meal, ribs… barbeque ribs…" Asuma laughed as Choji passed out.

"Sweet dreams Choji, you'll go to the great restaurant in the sky." After the floor was cleared, only Hayate remained. Everyone watched the large TV to see who would be fighting first. The two contestants were selected.

"Could *cough* Sasuke and Yoroi please *cough* come to the arena," Sasuke and Yoroi both jumped down, preparing for mortal combat. Anko shunshined next to Sasuke and whispered to him.

"If the curse mark activates, im pulling you out of the fight – so that means no jutsu." Sasuke would have argued profusely, but if the only way to advance in power and rank, the only way to become chunin, was to do it without jutsu – then so be it.

"Now *cough* do either of the fighters have any problems with this match?" Hayate asked, in return, they both shook their heads.

**[Insert default anime fight between Sasuke and Yoroi]**

Everyone turned to the TV to see who would fight next

**HINATA HYUUGA  
ROCK LEE**

"Could both *cough* contestants please make their *cough* way to the area." Hinata jumped down with encouragement from her team, while Gai shouted to Rock about the FLAMES OF YOUTH! Hinata was kind of intimidated of Rock – according to Kabuto's cards, he was jonin level in taijutsu. _Maybe I should just give up…_ Rock saw her begin to raise her hand to surrender.

"Don't do it Hinata! If you do not face your fears, they will come back to get you. Let the Flames Of Youth burn within you Hinata!" Even though they were going to fight, Rock still shot her a 'nice guy' pose. Neji looked disgusted at this.

"Rock! What are you doing! She is your enemy, main branch trash." Rock looked hurt at this.

"Neji! Why would you say that? She is not my enemy, she is a fellow Leaf ninja, I will treat her with respect. These are most unyouthful things of you to say." Neji grunted in arrogance, and though her courage was wavering, Hinata nodded her head – she would fight.

"*cough* very well. Begin!" Hinata activated her Byakugan and took up her clans stance, Rock saw that she would fight the battle defensively, and so made the first move. He slowly shifted forwards, one foot after the other, making sure that Hinata would not try a surprise attack; when he saw she wouldn't he quickly lunged at her, his knee flying towards her guts. Knowing that she couldn't stop a knee head on, she sidestepped and did a flurry of – what looked like pecks, onto his ribs. A few hit him, but after training for two years with Neji in his gentle fist style, he was somewhat used to the blows; so he sent his right hand swiping towards her head in a back fist, knowing that she would duck. He was momentarily surprised when she instead pecked the back of his hand, shooting it backwards; he jumped back, breaking off the engagement and smiled at her.

"You do not fight like your cousin Neji, Hinata. You are less aggressive, and react to the blows. This shall be an excellent fight." As they resumed their fight, Haku was confused.

"Excuse me, Gai-sensei? What is he talking about? And why doesn't Hinata just punch or kick him?" she asked politely. Gai laughed, not unkindly at her.

"You're a polite one aren't you, young Haku? I'm not your sensei, so just call me Gai. As to what he's talking about; Rock trains frequently against her cousin, Neji here. While Neji sticks to the clan style rigidly, he has a more offense-orientated view of fighting, Hinata is a bit timid, and so defends and reacts to the situation – something that Rock isn't used to, but he will get used to it in this fight." He explained smoothly, he then smiled at her.

"And for her lack of kicking and punching? It's not how the Gentle Fist style works; see, the Gentle Fist is all about speed and dodging, but more importantly, it's unique to the Hyuuga clan because when used in tandem with their Byakugan, they can see an opponent's chakra system, damaging them on the inside. In comparison, the fighting style that Lee and I use – the Iron Fist – is about crushing blows, breaking bones and creating contusions. While the Gentle Fist isn't exciting to watch is just as deadly as the Iron Fist, if not more because Hinata has her Byakugan. That's what makes this such an interesting match; their two fighting styles are the polar opposites of each other."

Lee could feel his arms becoming more and more difficult to move, he would have to end the fight quickly; at the same time, Hinata was puffing and panting, she had never been against an opponent with a fighting style so opposite hers, and could feel her legs becoming heavy. They both had the same thought:

"_I have to finish this fight, now!_" Rock knew that a solid punch to her guts would take her down, and Hinata knew that a palm strike against his shoulder, just above his heart would be enough to take him down.

"Hinata, I want you to know that, while I haven't been fighting to my fullest – you have, which proves that the flames of youth burn brightly within you. But I plan to finish this fight with my next strike." Hinata felt the same way – there was no way she could have stood against him if he was fighting to the best of his ability, but she would stop it. So without a single stutter, she proclaimed:

"I thank you Rock, I know you haven't been fighting your best – no one has ever cared for me that much, and I learn from this fight; if I give it my all, I can achieve anything. So I want you to put your all into your last punch, as I plan to with my last palm." Rock nodded to her, he wouldn't hold back. As one they charged to each other, Rock with his arm down ready to uppercut her gut, and Hinata with her arm cocked back, ready to slam into his shoulder – they impacted against each other with a resounding CRACK. Everyone held their breath.

"Did Hinata do it?"

"C'mon Rock…" From their would-be paused fight, Rock and Hinata looked at each other.

"You have… been the most youthful opponent… I have ever fought, I'm sorry."

"As am I…" Hinata coughed up some blood and fell, Rock swiftly catching her, wincing at the pain in his broken shoulder. Asuma jumped down and walked next to Rock, going towards the infirmary.

"I want to thank you Rock, you gave her a real boost out there today, and you didn't go all out too. Congratulation on your victory; and Gai says to 'compliment you on your youthfulness out there'. So nice work." As they were exiting the room, another two names cycled onto the screen.

**INO YAMANAKA  
KIN TSUCHI **

"Could Ino *cough* Yamanaka and Kin Tsuchi come down from the *cough* stands." Ino was feeling pretty confident about her matchup, already knowing about Kin's bells. She jumped down and nodded to Hayate, Kin doing the same.

"Begin!" Ino lunged forwards at Kin, determined on not giving her a chance to use her bells. Kin blocked her punch and went to kick her viciously in the ribs, only to have Ino jump back. She threw a kunai at Ino, who parried with her own kunai; Kin ran forwards and kicked, trying to swipe Ino's legs out from under her. Ino let her legs get swept, but she twisted as he came down, landing on her hands and propelling her back up to her feet. She launched herself at Kin with a kunai in hand, engaging her in a deadly taijutsu battle.

Their taijutsu battle was going nowhere fast, thought Ino, after 5 minutes of fighting, they both knew that neither of them would win at this rate; blow was matched for blow, kunai strike was either parried or dodged. _How can I get out of this situation? Think Ino, think. There's no water around for jutsu, I don't have time to do a mind transfer or genjutsu… I need to do something unexpected, got it! I'll give her a taste of her own medicine._ Ino broke off the fight, knowing that they would both have a few moments to catch their breath; she knew that Kin wouldn't have time to deploy her bells. Ino reached behind her and grabbed her ninja wire, cutting off two short lengths and attaching them to the ring-ends in her kunai. She placed a kunai on the top of her left hand and tied it around her palm, so that the blade jutted between her knuckles, pointing forwards. She then held the wire for the right kunai in her left hand, held the kunai above her head and began to spin it like a whirlwind, then launching it forwards towards Kin whenever she tried to come close. Over the next minute, Ino made it a rhythm of it: spin it over her head, Kin approaches, Ino would purposely over or under-extend her whirlwind-kunai creating a gap, Kin would attack, Ino would anticipate and counter. Kin jumped back for what would have been her seventh try, and scoring some cuts along her arms for when she got a little _too_ close. _Bitch! The only way I can take her down is if I use my bells, but if she keeps advancing, I'm gonna hit the wall, it's worth a shot._ Kin ran forwards, but feinted her attack, jumping back; she reached into a pouch on her belt and removed a bell, quickly threading it onto a wire-prepared senbon. Ino saw this and purposely let her string it up, Kin finally having realised that it was her only way out. Ino saw her legs brace themselves in preparation for another backwards jump. Ino let out a small, Kiba-like chuckle.

"Hehehe, I gotcha now." As Kin jumped back, Ino let go of the wire in her left hand, the windmill-kunai now acting like a bola heading straight for Kin's legs. Right before she did this, Kin threw her senbon at the ground – the throw mucked up her aim, but it stuck! Kin quickly pulled on the senbon as her legs got tangled in the kunai-wire.

"There's no escape, your death bell has tolled. What?" She expected Ino to shake and fall like in the jungle, but till she ran at Kin, her left hand back, ready to stab Kin with the kunai wired to her hand. At the same time, Ino was willing herself on – trying not to fall victim to the bells. She was seeing double already, _so long as I don't see triple, I'll know my target is exactly between the first image, and the second – this is it!_ Kin was scared, if the kunai hit, it would have torn out her jugular, she twisted to her left and put her hand in front of her arm, which was going to take the blow. As Ino stabbed through her hand, which was then pinned to her right arm; both girls screamed. Kin, because she was impaled through her left hand and right arm. Ino, because the wire was lacerating her palm, and just like in Rock and Hinata's fight, they thought in tandem:

"_Eerghhh, I can't give up now! Just a little more!_" Kin knew that both arms were out of action, so gritting her teeth through the searing pain, she twisted her body back to the right as she threw a kick into Ino's side. Ino had to bite back a cry of pain, because her kunai was embedded into Kin's hand, when she twisted, the kunai lacerated her palm even more, discs of skin peeling off. _I've come this far! I'm not gonna let a hurt hand stop me!_ She raised her right leg, catching Kin's kick on her shin, she ignored the pain, and after pushing the kick back, she catapulted a savage knee into Kin's exposed ribs. When Kin felt the impact, she doubled over in pain – a rib was cracked, possibly broken. Ino followed up on her attack; when Kin's head was down she lifted her elbow up and then slammed it back down on the back of Kin's neck, knocking her out and ending the fight. Medic nin shunshined immediately, untangling Kin before putting her on a stretcher, and dislodging Ino's kunai from her shoulder.

"Winner of *cough* the match – Ino Yamanaka *cough*" Kiba rushed down to Ino to see if she was okay, she brushed him off.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Forget about me, focus on your match; if you lose, then ill stab _you_. Look." She pointed at the TV screen.

**SHIKAMARU NARA  
KIBA INUZUKA**

"Oh, Asuma-sensei do I _have_ to?" Asuma sighed at him.

"Yeah, ya do. Stop complaining – if you fight I'll tell you a good cloud-watching spot." Asuma bargained with him.

"Alright, I've overused all the ones I've got at the moment. *sighs* what a drag." He jumped down to face Kiba.

"Do either fighters have a problem *cough* with this matchup? No, Begin!" As Hayate retreated to one of the stands, Shikamaru asked Kiba:

"Hey Kiba, I don't suppose you'll forfeit this match. If I win I get a cloud-gazing spot." He asked, ever-watchful for an easy way out. Kiba pointed a hand at him.

"What're you insane! Even if I wanted to forfeit, Ino would kill me if I did! I wanna try and live as long as I can!" Shikamaru just shrugged – it was worth a shot. Kiba and Akamaru man/beast clone-upped and they both took a soldier pill.

They constantly had Shikamaru on the defence, their dual-high-speed taijutsu attacks keeping him on the back foot. _If I don't do something soon I'll lose. As much as I want a nap, I can't let Kiba beat me. If I shadow-possessed Kiba, Akamaru will attack me; conversely, if I shadow-possess Akamaru, Kiba will attack. While Kiba isn't that smart, I won't be able to trick him, Akamaru on the other hand…_ Shikamaru threw some shuriken as he jumped back, avoiding another fang-over-fang attack, moving closer to the wall. _That's it, just two more attacks._ He jumped back yet again, kneeling on the ground in fake exhaustion, puffing and panting. Akamaru saw that he could finish him in one last fang-over-fang; Kiba saw the trick at the last moment.

"Akamaru! Don't!" but it was too late, Shikamaru rolled to the side at the last second, Akamaru slammed into the wall full-pelt, concussing him and reverting him back to his dog form. Kiba grew angry, giving him a little strength and speed, at the cost of smarts; he lunged directly at Shikamaru who was ready with his shadow possession jutsu, capturing Kiba.

"Hehe, shadow possession successful. Kiba, I'll give you one last chance to forfeit before I put shuriken into your legs." Kiba was struggling in vain against Shikamaru's hold, who was currently reaching for his shuriken holster on his leg.

"Hah! I'll never give up, right Akamaru?" For all his intelligence, and the face that Shikamaru had the next 47 moves played out in his head – he overlooked one fatal detail. If Akamaru was a normal dog and he crashed into the wall, he would have been concussed, hell, there was a fair chance he could have snapped his neck – but that was it, Akamaru _wasn't _a normal dog, he was a ninja dog, and his master was in danger. Shikamaru hear the tell-tale 'poof' behind him, signalling that Akamaru was in his clone form, so in one movement he dispelled his shadow hold and rolled to his left; but it was Akamaru's turn to anticipate Shikamaru._ He rolls right, he's in a wall. He rolls left, he's in the open and can attack. He rolls left_. So from his 'all fours' position, Akamaru bunched his leg muscles and sprang at Shikamaru, tackling him to the ground and holding a claw to his throat.

"What a drag… I surrender." Akamaru gnashed his teeth/Kiba's right in front of Shikamaru's face – well he hurt his head because of this pup!

"Easy Akamaru, we won – you did it really." This seemed to do it for Akamaru, with one last growl he got off of Shikamaru, changed to his dog form and ran to Kiba.

"Winner *cough* of the match – Kiba Inuzuka." Kiba picked up Akamaru and went to the infirmary to see Ino, while Shikamaru dusted himself off and jumped back to join with Asuma.

"Well, you tried your best. That's all I can ask for, really." Shikamaru shrugged.

"I'm not sure I lost though – sure, I didn't get the cloud spot, but at least I won't be a chunin, now _that_ would be a drag." Asuma just shook his head at his lazy genin.

"Go to the back of the Hokage's tower, there's an old ladder that gets you to the top. If you lay against the barrier up there you're in shade, and you can see all the cloud you want."

"I don't get it Asuma, I didn't win. Why tell me the spot?" Asuma laughed at him and patted his shoulder.

"If I told you to _win_, then you wouldn't have even bothered. I said _'to fight'_; you won the spot, fair and square." Shikamaru was the only one listening to Asuma's words; everyone else was looking at the screen, and the names on it.

**HAKU MOMOCHI  
NEJI HYUUGA**

Shino turned to her.

"Good luck Haku. He uses the gentle fist like Hinata, so be wary of a taijutsu fight… be careful." Haku was touched at his public display of emotion; it showed how much he really cared for her. She just smiled at him and put on her Kiri hunter mask.

"Thanks Shino, but I won't be needing it – it's all sorted out." Shino was left to ponder her cryptic words as she jumped down to the floor. Meeting Neji at the centre.

"*cough* Do either participants have a problem with this mat-*cough*, excuse me. With this matchup? No, Begin!" Neji settled into his gentle fist stance and set an arrogant look on his face – as though it wasn't already there.

"Give up. Fate has already decided that I will be a chunin, which means that you will lose." He spat venomously. Haku just laughed at him.

"I might lose, I might not. But I'll take you down few pegs before I do either! **Demon Ice Mirrors!**" This time, instead of doing her usual number of ice mirrors, she only did nine; eight in an octagon around him, and one directly above him, Neji just sneered at her. Yes, he hadn't seen her fight, and yes, he heard of this jutsu from her reputation as the Ice Maiden Of Konoha; but with his ultimate Byakugan, he could see all of her moves, - nothing would hit him.

Now, what he _didn't_ expect, was for her to disappear into the mirrors, then creating another eight images of herself, one Haku to a mirror. Neji defended himself valiantly, but he was no match for the meticulous precision of Haku's senbon. Haku had actually cut off Neji's chakra; due to her ice senbon being made of chakra and striking at each of his tenketsu points, it was the same as suffering a 10 minute gentle fist barrage. Through sheer determination and belief that fate was on his side, Neji still stood – barely. After those _fateful_ ten minutes, Haku dissolved her ice mirrors and put up her hand.

"Proctor Gekko, I forfeit the match." This shocked everyone bar Naruto.

"Uuhh Haku, are you sure? *cough* I think you can still win this…" encouraging her to continue the fight.

"No, I choose to forfeit, he can still stand – declare him the winner." Hayate was confused but went with it anyway.

"…Right. By way of forfeit, the winner of this match, is Neji Hyuuga. *cough**cough*" When she made It back to the stand, it was Kakashi who asked.

"Haku, why did you forfeit? He was a pincushion, why didn't you continue?" Haku looked at Neji with contempt.

"I don't like his arrogant attitude. He now has to live with the humiliation of being turned into a pincushion, then winning by forfeit. And come the finals, he will then be humiliated again by being beaten in front of the whole village. He can take this as a lesson." They all knew what she meant by that, his utter disregard for Hinata, and his spite towards the 'main branch' of the Hyuuga clan. They then looked on the screen with anticipation.

**TENTEN HIGARASHI  
TEMARI OF THE SAND**

**[Default fight, but after Naruto sealed Gaara and Shukaku, she leant that Leaf ninja were alright, and so caught Tenten at the end, instead of falling on her fan]**

**GAARA OF THE SAND  
MISUMI TSURUGI (AN: stretchy guy who isn't Yoroi, he fought Kankuro in the anime)**

As the match started, Baki was surprised: although the Shukaku was sealed properly and the Berserker Seal was removed, he was surprised at the lack of bloodthirstiness shone by Gaara. Within two minutes however, Gaara had caught Misumi in a Sand Coffin.

"**Sand Coffin: Burial!**" As he raised his hand and the sand encased Misumi, instead of closing his hand into a fist as he normally would, he flicked two fingers in and out. Everyone heard a bone-chilling CRUNCH though. Gaara let down his hand and walked to Hayate.

"His ribs are broken, but he lives." Baki, Temari and Kankuro were all amazed; he let someone live! Baki tentatively reached out his hand and patted Gaara on the shoulder – touching him for the first time in Baki's life.

"Thank you, for not killing that man." Gaara slowly turned on Baki, who instantly retraced his hand.

"Do not thank me. Thank Naruto Uzumaki, he silenced Shukaku's screams. You do not need to be afraid – mother does not call for anyone's blood." The three Suna Shinobi were too amazed at Gaara to care that the next match had already started.

Shino and Dosu squared off, waiting for the other one to make the first move; Shino with his hands in his pockets, back straight, Dosu hunched over, hands close to dragging on the floor.

"The only reason you are alive now, is because the Demon and the Maiden saved you in the forest – they won't save you now." Dosu stated.

"You are correct, they won't save me. That is because I will not need saving, I can't say the same for you…" as he uttered these words, his hands left his pockets and bugs crawled down his legs, soon flooding the floor.

"What the fuck! What kind of freak are you!" he demanded, at the same time punching the floor with his melody arm – only for nothing to happen.

"The reason Zaku's attack could hurt me, was because he used the chakra in his wind-holes to _vibrate_ the air around them, sending out sonic blasts. Yours on the other hand, _only_ uses chakra. My beetles feast on chakra, you are feeding them luch – you will be dinner." As Dosu tried in vain to swat and stop the bugs off of him, Shino mentally commanded them to drain his chakra to the point of exhaustion, not death. 54 seconds later, Shino won the match.

"That leaves *cough* only two fighters left, would Naruto Uzumaki and Kankuro of the Sand make their way down please." _Un-freakin'-believable! Not only am I last, but I have to go against the Demon Of The Leaf!_ Kankuro thought fearfully.

"Do either fighters have a problem with this matchup?" _YES! _Kankuro screamed in his mind.

"No? Good, this is the last match gentlemen *cough*, let's make it good. Begin!"

"Hey uh Naruto! I'm real sorry about this, the Kazekage himself commanded us to fight before we left Suna, I don't suppose you'll go easy on me?" Kankuro asked, much to the enjoyment of the spectators. All he got in reply was a low, dark chuckle from Naruto.

"Oh Kankuro…" he snapped his neck to either side slowly and let his left hand go out to his side. With his right hand, he slowly reached the handle of his scythe, and in one lightning movement he deployed the blade and flung it out by his side, making Kankuro flinch from the speed. His body now resembled a menacing 'A' to Kankuro, he then saw Naruto's right hand move a bit and he closed his eyes. _This is it, im going to die!_ SCHLING! Kankuro let out a gasp… he let out a gasp? He opened one eye, then the other and looked at his body. _I'm in one piece! And I'm alive!_ Kankuro looked to Naruto to see what the source of the sound was, seeing a smile on his face as he took off his ANBU shoulder and arm guards along with his jacket, exposing his muscular upper body, and placing his clothes on his scythe, which was half-way embedded into the floor.

"Why sure I will! I won't use my scythe for this either, it's been a while since I used any jutsu, and _ages_ since a good taijutsu scrap either." He reached into one of his jacket pockets, revealing some fighting tape as he started taping up his hands.

"You'll have to excuse me, the tape reminds me not to hit to hard… there we go." He put the tape back into his jacked and cracked his knuckles, then his back and arms, before stopping mid leg stretch and looking at Kankuro.

"Well? Aren't you going to attack me? I will go easy on you, but in the words of my former sensei: 'the only way you have any chance to beat me, it to come at me with the intent to kill'." It jogged Kankuro out of his daze.

"Uh, right! Let's do this Crow!" he unlimbered the thing that he had strapped to his back, as he unwound the bandages, it turned out to be a brown puppet with a ragged brown poncho over it.

"Ohhhh a puppeteer, I've only fought two of those before – real tough guys, let's see if you are the same." Naruto began to engage the puppet in a taijutsu fight, dodging knives and blades, as well as hidden senbon.

"Now you see, the _first_ problem with puppets… is that with enough force, they can be broken." To demonstrate this, he grabbed Crow's right hand with his left, made a spear of his right hand and smashed it through his wrist.

"WHAT! People have hit Crow with sledgehammers and katana's and not even scratched it – how can you do this!?" Naruto just smiled at him, keeping his feet and hands moving like a trained fighter.

"It's like I said, with enough force, they can be broken – no matter how many protection and hardening seals you put on it." Kankuro then shot a poison-smoke bomb at Naruto, who deftly caught it in his mouth and began eating it – leaving Kankuro standing with his mouth agape, much like Crow.

"That's… a good example…of the second *belches* oh! Excuse me! Anyway, good example of puppets second problem, no, not the fact that your enemy might be immune to poison – highly rare thing actually. But their _second_ problem, is that they sometimes lack _physical_ strength, not just structural. To show Kankuro what he meant, he knelt down and pulled up a section of the floor. A sign-less, word-less **Earth Style: Earth Wall** – leaving the spectators to gasp; he doesn't need handsigns or the incantation! Crow punched the wall with a fist that had three blades coming between the four knuckles. All that came through on his side were the blades. He sent a powerful punch through the wall, crumbling it to dust.

"But, but, Crow had punched through iron walls before! What's going on!" Kankuro shouted, again, Naruto smiled.

"I'm just lending you a hand – showing you what main weaknesses puppets have. But that does lead me to their _third_ weakness; while they may be structurally sound-" He threw a kunai at Crow, which bounced off effortlessly.

"They aren't fully protected against jutsu." With a flick of his finger, Naruto shot a single** Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear **up from the floor, breaking off Crow's right forearm.

"Now, I'll keep this training lesson short so I don't end up dismantling crow on you, which lead me to the fourth and final weakness of puppets, their masters. The one thing that puppet masters never tell aspiring puppeteers, is that – yes, becoming one with your puppet is all well and good – it often makes the puppeteer forgetful that he has two eyes. One for the puppet…" Naruto ducked under Crow's guard and unleashed a thundering kick into Crow, sending him skidding across the room. Naruto then sped himself up, ran behind Kankuro and held a kunai to his neck.

"…and one for the puppeteer, which I believe is their greatest weakness. BUT, if you are fighting someone who _doesn't_ know these weaknesses – so basically, anyone but puppet masters and the best of ninja – then you have the fight in the bag. But unfortunately for you, I'm the latter… ahem, I don't think the Kazekage would wind if you surrendered now." He said, as he tapped the kunai against Kankuros neck.

"Proctor, I'd uh, like to forfeit the match – now."

"Winner by way of forfeit – Naruto Uzumaki." Kankuro sighed with relief, but still felt Naruto's kunai at his neck; his blood ran cold.

"N-Naruto? I surrendered; you can put the kunai down now." Naruto shook his head, Hayate grew wary.

"This is the last lesson. If this was a real battle, you would be dead; this is another thing puppet masters don't tell you: what to do if the enemy spots the fourth weakness. A _true_ puppeteer sees the whole battlefield as his stage, and _everything_ on his stage is a puppet… think, _you_ lured me here, now dispatch me." Kankuro was bamboozled as to what he meant – then it hit him. He substituted with Crow, he spun its head; now a blade was a centimetre from the bridge of his nose. Naruto smiled and let go of Crow, he walked over to Kankuro and shook his hand.

"Nice work. You may not become chunin, but I hope from what I taught you, you can live to fight another day."

"I hope I do too, I honestly thought you were going to kill me, if not at the start, then when you had that kunai to my neck. You taught me some simple errors that I make, thanks Naruto." Hayate put his kunai back into his pocket, the threat having been eliminated, and was proud at the show of camaraderie.

The fighting over, they formed into a row, looking at the Hokage, jonin, jonin-sensei and their fellow genin who didn't make it. The Hokage stepped forwards and cleared his throat.

"Congratulations again, from both myself and your jonin-sensei; you are one step closer to becoming chunin. As Hayate is walking by, reach into the box and pick out a slip of paper, it will determine who you will fight in the finals."

"Lucky number nine."

"I have number two"

"Seven"

"Fate had declared me number one"

"What are you talking about Naruto? Three's the magic number!"

"It would seem that your magic has pitted you against me, I am number four"

"Wohoo! Number five."

"I have been given the youthful number of eight!"

"Which leaves me as number six"

"Very well. It shall be Neji vs Shino, Kiba vs Gaara, Ino vs Temari, Sasuke vs Rock, and Naruto will be given a bye, and shall fight the winner of the Sasuke – Rock match. You have one month until the finals, any method of training is allowed. Until that time, good luck." Having completed the second phase of the chunin exams, the aspiring genin dispersed out of the tower, going towards their lodging, talking in detail and planning their vigorous training regime, so that they might be prepared for their grand bouts in one month's time.

As everyone was leaving, Gaara spotted and walked over to Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki. We must speak with you, and your Hokage."

**Thank ya thank ya, thank ya very much. Chapter nine down! What do Gaara and the sand ninja ****_need_**** to talk to Naruto and the Hokage about? I KNOW (you don't, haha) **

**So yeah – I hope to finish chapter 10 and post both of them by tonight, 12000 words in a few hours doesn't seem like a lot, but it is.**

**The next chapter will be up soon: 10 – 'Till death do us part…**


	11. 10 - Till Death Do Us Part

**Quick AN to jh831, along the lines of 'we're ninja, we can kill drink and have sex' bit, I took that into account, but still reckon that Naruto would be nervous about it – remember, Tsume is twice his age, not a genin. But yes, in chapter 11, 12 at the latest, there WILL be an actual lemon, if not more.**

**Hello again. This is the tenth chapter of 'Champion Of The Shinigami' – Til death do us part…**

**I don't really wanna say anything about it for risk of spoiling, but you see, ah fuckkit, just read it it's too good to say.**

**Recap:** The second phase of the chunin exam's had been completed and Gaara and the Suna ninja need to talk with the Hokage.

Naruto ascended the Hokage tower with Baki, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro.

"So you can't tell me?" Naruto asked Gaara.

"It is not for other people's ears. This is between us, you and your Hokage." Gaara replied. Naruto led them to the Hokage's office, seeing that the door was open they walked in.

"Hey Gramps! Can we talk?" The Hokage looked up at Naruto and smiled at him.

"Yes, what is it about?" Naruto nodded to Gaara and activated a silencing seal.

"Hokage, on the day of the chunin exams, the Leaf will be attacked by the Sand and Sound." The Hokage's gaze darkened.

"I was aware that Oto would attack, by to be invaded by Suna… why are you telling me this?" Gaara answered concisely and to the point.

"Fighting Konoha would mean fighting Naruto. I do not fight those who help me. Nor will Baki, Kankuro or Temari." When the Hokage asked for an explanation, Naruto explained Shukaku and how he sealed him properly.

"I see. Since you will not be fighting in the attack and have told me about it… carry on as though you were still in the attack." Baki spoke up,

"But Lord Hokage, shouldn't you do something about this? With all respect, of course."

"Gaara holding Shukaku, he will be the figurehead of the attack – with him out of the invasion, the Sand will falter. We were already aware of the Sound attacking us, so this doesn't come as a great shock. However, we have some sad new… my spy master has told me… that the Kazekage it dead." Temari began to tear up, so Kankuro hugged her, Gaara was impassive and Baki was shocked.

"What!? Are you sure he isn't wrong? We talked to the Kazekage not three weeks ago! He was the one who declared that we would attack the Leaf – that was a month ago!" The Hokage closed his eyes and nodded.

"His body was found two months ago, in the Land Of Rice Paddies. The man who is in power now is an imposter, Orochimaru." Baki trembled at the name.

"The traitorous sannin? Why?"

"It is rumoured that he is the Otokage, if he was posing as the Kazekage, he would have two hidden villages under his control."

They spoke for a while longer on the subject before parting ways. Naruto knocked on the Inuzuka's door and let out his usual cry.

"Yeah, come on in man! So anyway, he's fighting Kankuro's puppet right? And he punches, kicks, weaves and dodges, and then he says: 'The _first_ problem with puppets, is that with enough force they can be broken'. Then he smashes through the puppets hand! But you should have seen his taijutsu, his hands were like lightning!" Kiba exclaimed. Hana looked at Tsume then shot Naruto a sly look.

"Yes, I heard Naruto's hands were _magic_." Kiba was oblivious to Naruto's hitched step, but Tsume and Hana caught it; _there was something __**wrong**__ with the way she said that… shit! Does she know?_

"Train enough and anything's possible, thanks for the compliment though." Hana kept a small grin on her face; she couldn't resist another jibe at her swiftly reddening mother.

"Yeah, that training. I bet you train in all _sorts_ of conditions, both _domestic _and abroad." _Fuck. She __**definitely **__knows._

"Damn, all this talk of training has got me pumped! Naruto, wanna spar?" Naruto was thanking him endlessly on the inside – much to the enjoyment of his evil side.

"_Aw c'mon man! Play your cards right and you could even score Hana! Think of the possibilities!_" _Shut up! You know she's Itachi's… and Tsume's the one for me!_

"_Bit of a late reminder, don't you think? Hahahahaha_."

"Yeah sure thing Kiba – we need to get you prepared for Gaara."

Since they wouldn't be issued missions until after the chunin exams, Naruto settled into a bit of a rhythm: going to the Inuzuka early in the morning, going with Tsume to Ichiraku's for lunch and returning for some hard training with Kiba, and then spending some alone time with Tsume in the evening.

It was one such afternoon – about a week into the month – where both Kiba and Naruto were laying next to each other and panting. For the past hour, Naruto had come at Kiba with a fairly high speed; Kiba had to dodge or redirected every blow, if he went to strike Naruto, he would get kicked in the thigh, making it more difficult to dodge, increasing the difficulty of the exercise.

"Hey Kiba…. Can I… ask you something." He puffed.

"Yeah… sure… thing… shoot." Kiba was much more exhausted. Naruto sat up and looked at him.

"When I come back… I'm going… to ask Tsume to marry me!" he shouted, finally having asked Kiba.

"I just, wanted your blessing on it…" Kiba was amazed.

"I knew you two were, close. But I didn't think she meant that much to you." Naruto smiled wistfully.

"If it wasn't for her, I'd be dead. She means the world to me… I can't really put it into words…"

"It means you love her, truly. Alright, you got my blessing… it's gonna be weird though; you'll only be gone for fifteen days, but it'll be fifteen years to you, you'll be twenty eight. It's gonna be so different." Kiba was kind of sad, in one way, he'd he partly losing his best friend.

"It's not gonna be different. Yes, I'll be older, yes; I'll finally be with Tsume. But that's it; I'll still be your best friend, we'll still train, it's not going to change. Promise." He held his arm out on an angle.

"Promise." Kiba clasped his hand, his thumb over Naruto's knuckles, his fingers under Naruto's thumb. They got back up and trained with a renewed vigor, then leaving on a promise.

As he and Tsume left Ichiraku's the next day, Ayame was completely befuddled by Naruto, so she asked her dad:

"Hey dad, did Naruto seem, I don't know, _different_ today? I know he's a polite kid and all, but he asked for another helping, not 'fill 'er up', and he called you Teuchi, not 'old man'. Yeah… something's definitely different about him…" Teuchi just laughed at his daughter.

"My guess? He's gonna ask for Tsume's hand, yep, he's probably going to marry her."

1….

2….

3….

"WHAT!?" She shouted at her now-senile father.

"He's got the same look on his face as I did when I asked your mother. Haven't you noticed? His little quirks around her…"

"No! How longs this been going on for?"

"You didn't know? I'm surprised, your one of the few people who can tell anything about the boy from just looking at him. It would have to be at least… actually, probably _before_ she started coming here." Ayame just stood there with her jaw hitting the ground.

"But…but, isn't she too old for him? She's more than twice his age!" Teuchi laughed at her again.

"Oh Ayame, so that's what you were blinded by. _True_ love transcends ALL boundaries." That rung a bell inside her somewhere.

"I've heard that somewhere before… it was Naruto! He told me that; it must have been a few years ago! This has been going on for ages!" Teuchi just chuckled and went back to the dishes – he had more customers lining up. One customer heard their little conversation and smiled – it was a pink haired customer.

When they arrived back at the compound, Tsume thank him for lunch (as she always did) and went with Kuromaru and a few of the dog for a fun through the forest. Which left Naruto to walk down to the vet and talk to Hana. _Kiba already knows, I just need to ask Hana_.

He found her out the back, hosing down some of the cages and after looking around to make sure no one else was there, he approached her.

"Hey Hana! Can I ask you something?" she saw that it was him, turned the hose off and smiled at him.

"Yeah sure, what I it?" he took a deep breath;

"When I come back… I'm going to ask Tsume to marry me. Would you-" he was forcefully stopped by a crushing bear hug.

"Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh it's going to be so cute! I knew you loved her! Yes Naruto, its fine!" after she put him down, and after he took grateful gulps of air, he asked:

"You seem overly okay with this – not that Im complaining! I was just wondering…" he rolled his hands over each other, miming 'explain please'

"Well I always knew you liked her, and I've never seen her go soft on someone before, even before dad left, she was always fierce. When I bring you up, she actually blushes! Not that _im_ complaining, it's about time she got with someone." Naruto was amazed – he could do that to a woman? He would have stayed in the happy moment, but an ANBU shunshined into the vet.

"Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage wants to see you immediately." He gracious thanked Hana again before shunshining outside the Hokage's office. He knocked and entered, seeing someone who left him for dead.

"Pervy Sage?!" the 'pervy sage' looked up from the Hokage's desk, his face confusion, then realisation.

"That voice… the kid from the hot springs! I should give you a piece of my mind for interrupting me during my research."

"Research! You were perving on the women's bath! You left me for dead, suffering their Divine Wrath after they found you!"

"The only reason they found me, was because YOU shouted that I was a pervert!"

"You ARE a pervert!" The Hokage's eye twitched, he had not expected nor wanted this type of discussion.

"SILENCE!" he roared, getting both of them to shut up.

"I did not call you here, Naruto, do discuss the past, the opposite rather." The Pervy Sage looked at Naruto again. _This is Naruto? Last I saw of him he was a loud mouth brat wearing too much orange, what changed?_

"What can he do with my future?" still having a rather accusing tone.

"Naruto, do you know who he is?" he nodded

"Yeah, he's a pervy sage… oh fine, he's Jairaiya the toad sage, one of the sannin." When Jairaiya heard him say who he actually was, with such nonchalance, his jaw literally dropped.

"Hey kid! Show some respect, sure, I am a SUPER PERVERT, but I'm also a sannin. One who's willing to train you too." He smiled cockily at the end, _that'll shut him up._

"Pervertedness aside, thank you for the offer, but I don't need it."

"WHAT!" Jairaiya shouted. After the ringing in his ears stopped, Naruto replied:

"I said: 'Pervertedness aside, thank you for the offer, but I don't need it'"

"How can you say that! I'm a sannin!" Naruto just sighed.

"I really hate arrogance, but do you know who _I_ am?" this brought a look of confusion to Jairaiya's face.

"You're Naruto Uzumaki, a loudmouth genin – and an ungrateful one to boot." Naruto sighed again and leant against the wall, counting off his achievements on his fingers.

"I'm the Demon Of The Leaf, I killed the three-tails and Yagura the Mizukage. I am the Right Hand Of Death, I removed Anko Mitarashi's curse seal – something that you couldn't do and you're a seal master. I am the God Of Death, I resurrected Mei Terumi after her head was lopped off – she's the current Mizukage. I am the Wandering Hero and Saviour Of Wave; I killed the shipping magnate Gato, hence halting his tyrannical hold over the Land Of Waves. And I'm also the Stormcaller, for calling down a rain of lightning on a few hundred bandits, saving my team. So I now ask you, with all due respect – which there is a lot of. What can you do for me?" Jairaiya was amazed, shocked and disbelieving.

"You're all of those people?! That's impossible! You can't _kill_ a tailed beast, without doing black jutsu you can't bring someone back to life, and there's no way you removed Anko's seal!" starting to get angry that he would try and claim other people's accomplishments, granted, he knew that he was the Stormcaller.

"*sighes* old man?" the Hokage nodded.

"Jairaiya, it's true, he did all of those things, and he didn't use any black jutsu." Jairaiya wouldn't let it drop.

"But how ca-"

"WHAT GIVES _YOU_ THE RIGHT TO BE ANGRY AT _ME_!" Naruto thundered, silencing them both.

"You were my godfather, you swore to Minato, my dad, that you would protect me – and what did you do?" Naruto asked venomously.

Itachi never told him if he had any other relatives, and when Naruto asked him about it, Itachi told Naruto to 'look for them yourself'. Around eleven, Naruto looked into it one day, and he found several small pieces of information that pointed to Kushina Uzumaki's child, Naruto dug deeper and found that its godparents were Tsunade and Jairaiya of the sannin.

"You left, leaving me by myself. They hated me – they still hate me, do you know what it's like to grow up in a place with 500,000 people** (AN: population is a guess)**, and only have seven people accept you? every year, the people would beat me, curse me and stone me, ritually hunting me down and beating me on my birthday. When I was five, they finally succeeded in killing me." He lifted his shirt to reveal the large scar that spanned his chest.

"Well?" he asked, still with venom in his voice.

"…dead…" he whispered, the gravity of leaving Naruto came crashing down on him, bringing him to tears and hugging Naruto.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't think this would happen!" Naruto hugged him back, more so out of uncomfortableness than love. After a few moments he gently eased Jairaiya off of him.

"While yes, I do hate you, I also have to partly thank you." His words stung Jairaiya, but also confused him.

"Thank me… what for?" Naruto shrugged.

"Call it fate, call it destiny, sheer dumb luck – I don't know. But for whatever reason that everything in the past has happened, it has led me to here. So I guess I have to thank you, you not looking after me also led me to my life now." Jairaiya just nodded, he didn't trust his voice.

"But it's as the old man said, we're not here to talk about the past, we're here to talk about the future. In all seriousness, what _would_ you have taught me?" speaking in a soft voice he answered.

"I would have taught you the rasengan, helped your chakra control, teach you to use the Kyuubi's chakra, and get you to sign the Toad Summoning Contract." Naruto rubbed his chin – he knew that Jairaiya wouldn't be able to bring back his childhood, so he put that discussion to the side.

"I've already got Kage level chakra control, the rasengan would be okay, but you don't need to worry about the Fox's chakra, and you can't have more than one summoning contract."

"Kage level control? And you already have a contract? Who with?" Jairaiya asked.

"Yes, Kage level control, no, I don't have the contract yet, and no, I can't tell you what it is." Jairaiya didn't push any more than that – maybe, if he could teach him the rasengan, he could have a shot at being in his life.

"You, said you died… how is it possible, to be alive?"

"I can't tell you yet. You will find out about it, though, as will the rest of the  
village. I ask that you leave us, I have a favour to ask the Hokage." Jairaiya was crestfallen. He missed out on his god son's life, but he had a chance to come back in, and he would go at that chance with all he's got. So wanting to stay on Naruto's good side he left the room, but not before saying:

"It's good to see you again, Naruto."

"It's… good to finally meet you." Jairaiya closed the door and went to mull over everything that just happened, it was a lot of emotion to go through in a short space of time. Naruto turned to the Hokage.

"Please, give him a chance, Naruto." Naruto wasn't entirely sure how to feel.

"I'll give him a chance, _one_ chance. But, well, I need _a loan_. A rather large one – but I promise I will pay it back soon!" The Hokage smiled; while he did like the new Naruto, he did miss bits of the old one – like skirting an issue.

"How much? And what for?" he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, it's about twentythousandryo, and, it's for egmsrgrbry." He mumbled.

"Twenty _thousand_ ryo, is that all? And what was it for?" The Hokage was laughing on the inside, for Naruto to come directly to him, it must have been important, sure, he'd give him the loan, but not before jerking him around about it.

"It was for a… engnrng." The Hokage cupped a hand to his ear.

"I'm sorry? Did you say, 'buy a house', because it would be a small house…"

"NO! I said it was for…"

"Yesssssssssssssss" the Hokage knew he was enjoying this too much, Naruto got fed up.

"AN ENGAGEMENT RING!" The Hokage fell from his chair, both at the surprise of the question, and the loudness.

"So you're FINALLY going to ask her, okay." Naruto's eye twitched, he spoke in a quiet voice.

"You could have just given me the money you know."

"Yes, I could have. I completely agree with you – but it's no fun like that. So when are you going to ask her?"

"Well, within a few days Itachi will contact me, at least 15 days before the chunin exams. I've already asked Kiba and Hana for their blessings and have received them; I plan on asking her to marry me on the day I leave – more mysterious that way." The Hokage agreed and gave him a cheque of 20,000 ryo.

"Remember to henge, if a thirteen year old goes to buy an engagement ring, especially you, it will cause a rather large… hubbub." Naruto laughed at the Hokage's choice of words and bade him good day – it was time to go shopping. _Oh crap._ Naruto though._ Not only do I __**not**__ know where to buy jewellery, but I don't even know where the shopping district is… HANA!_

Naruto raced back to the Inuzuka compound, wanting to stretch his legs and burn off energy, rather than simply shunshining there. He found her in the lounge, half asleep on the couch; he nudged her on the shoulder.

"Hey Hana… wake up… we're gonna go shop-ppping." He said sing-songliy, he noticed that she was mumbling about something, so he leant in closer.

"mmmpphh….Yes…yes, mppphh, Itachi.." Naruto's head shot up, so she was having one of _those_ dreams. He smiled and looked up, sending out a thumbs-up telepathically to Itachi _all-right!_ He then looked back at Hana's drowsy figure; she couldn't be _that_ delirious, maybe he should just walk away. But then again, she _did_ give him crap –subliminally – about him and Tsume, so in a deep, clear Itachi like voice, he said.

"Oh Hana… yes…that's the spot." Hearing that her eyes went wide, then saw Naruto and blushed.

"Sweet dreams?" he asked perversely.

"Oh just… stuff, you know… did you need something?"

"Not as much as you doooo." Her hand shot out and punched him in the gut,

"What was that?" he grunted as he lifted himself up from the floor.

"Nothing at all! More importantly, we need to go shopping, so come along!" Hana was still a little sleepy and couldn't be bothered protesting – besides, she was going shopping. Naruto explained the situation and she gladly made him follow her through Konoha to the commercial district. He stopped her and went into a nearby alley, henging and coming back out.

"Ah Hana! It's been ages… can't you recognise _cousin Byakuya_." She caught on immediately, taking in the impressive sight that was her cousin 'Byakuya'. He was dressed as a samurai, he had a black robe on with a katana at his side, he had a clean face and his black hair was styled into a few neat rows, with a male hair-holster holding some of the rows down. **(AN: how would you describe Byakuya's hair thingo's, aren't they made of glass?)** In all, he was a very dashing man – for a cousin. They walked for a while until Hana dragged him into a jeweller: **'Konoha's Kraftsmen of Kwality Karat'** Naruto winced upon reading the sign.

"Wow! Look at this… those are nice… what about these?" she dragged him around for the better part of an hour in the warehouse-like expanse that was the jewellers.

"It's… they're not right, all of these are really good quality, yes. But they're all so typical. (Typically expensive) I need something that really wows her, and not just a giant diamond. What about that place?" he pointed across the street to a small, almost decrepit looking store, which read: **'Shimura Family Jewellers' – makers of unique jewellery since the first Shinobi war.**

"Shimura? You do know that Danzo's a Shimura, right? C'mon, there's a really good one over here."

"Hana, isn't that a little prejudiced of you? How 'bout this: you look here, and I'll look there, remember at most, 20,000. _At most._" She sighed and nodded, giving him leave to go there.

He walked in the door to find an old man at the counter, touching up a silver ring. He looked up to see Naruto and sighed, almost angrily.

"Come to poke fun at the cripple? Or maybe the Shimura who didn't stand fast in battle? Well I'm here, insult and get out." Naruto was taken aback by his tone, which was almost resigned to his fate.

"I'm not here to belittle you; I don't even know who you are. I'm just looking for an engagement ring." 'Byakuya' smiled.

"If you're gonna try and act nice, the least you could do is lose the henge." 'Byakuya' was shocked, how could he see through it? He wanted to buy a ring, so he dispelled his henge.

"Ah the fox kid. Or should we still call you that, since he's not in you anymore?" Naruto's jaw dropped – how on earth did he know.

"What? Are you going to kill me because I called you the fox kid?"

"No… how do you know it's not there?" Naruto asked in a whisper, despite the fact that they were the only people in the store.

"Not much gets past these old eyes, okay? Now what do you want?"

"Honestly? I want to know why you though I would make fun of you." The old man sighed.

"You're serious, aren't you? I lost my left leg in the third Shinobi war; I was helping an Iwa nin – that's right an IWA ninja, he wasn't even that bad. We were ambushed, an exploding tag went off, mass confusion. So anyway, this guy, he gets blown back near me, with part of a branch going through his torso, we both knew he wasn't going to live. But, some part of me went over to him, crawled because my leg got mangled in the blast, but I went over to him, and he was so calm, he already knew he was going to die; I offered him a smoke and we talked for, oh, it would have been ten minutes, before he started to cry. He told me of his wife, two kids, another one on the way… we were so far into the war, I didn't even know why we were fighting anymore; people talk about Iwa people like their the plague and have two heads. They talk like us, breath like us, shit, piss, eat… they die like us. The rest of my team was killed in the blast, after this guy – Keiji, was his name. After he died, I cut most off the tree around him off, dug a grave for him and said a prayer. When I returned to base, alone, they thought I ran from the field and hid in a ditch somewhere, even after I told them what happened. They didn't believe me, you know what they said? 'You helped an Iwa nin? If you're going to lie, make it believable. Disgraced the Shimura name, all that was left of my family was my nephew, Danzo. When he heard the news, he didn't even talk to me, he just disowned me. Since the war, I've been living off of my pension and hiding here, like I hid from the enemy, they'd tell ya." Naruto saw the pain that it brought him, and he knew it wasn't from being disowned, or having the village hate him – it was from the people spitting on Keiji's memory. Naruto reached across the bench and patted him on the shoulder.

"_I _believe you. And to me, you are a hero, be proud of that – if not for yourself, then for Keiji, you helped a dying man through his final hours, and dug a grave for him too. How many people can say they've done that to a stranger, in the middle of a warzone no less. When you think of Keiji, from now on, try and think about how he felt, with someone by his side?" The old man couldn't hold them in anymore, tears falling silently down his cheeks.

"Thank you… young man. Dahmi, Dahmi Shimura." He held out his hand to Naruto, who shook it strongly.

"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." Dahmi wiped his tears away and put the gruff back into his voice – but they both knew that he was glad for what Naruto just did for him.

"You wanted a ring, right? What kind?"

"This is where it gets a bit weird… it's an engagement ring."

"What are you, stupid? Getting engaged is not a weird thing." Naruto just shook his head, Dahmi purposely missing the point.

"Of course not. I saw on the sign that you sell _unique_ jewellery, do you still?"

"Of course we do! Ever since the first Shinobi war, we have been making all kinds of jewellery!" he spoke proudly.

"Good. Well, me being the 'fox kid', I wanted – if I could – to have a fox on it, and the woman I'm getting engaged to likes dogs, wolves really." Naruto explained. Dahmi closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"Yeah, I might have one, excuse me a moment." He walked to the back of the room and looked through a shelf. Naruto then saw his leg, from the knee down, it was all metal, and though it looked life-like, Dahmi had a bad limp.

"Here we are…" he held up the ring to Naruto, who gasped in amazement. It was pure silver, along the band ran a fox and a wolf, in three scenes: the fox watching the wolf, the fox running with the wolf, and then the fox and the wolf in a cave, the first and third carvings met in the middle with a small topaz, mainly brown, but when the light caught it, it was a sunshine yellow in spots.

"Like your hair and her eyes, don't you think?" this again, caught Naruto off guard.

"What are you talking about?" Dahmi sighed and looked at Naruto.

"I told you, not much gets past these eyes. Liking dogs or wolves would narrow it down to an Inuzuka – you'd be surprised at how many see them as pests – and since you were browsing over there with Hana, it would have to be Tsume; who has hazel eyes."

"You know Tsume?" Dahmi smiled sadly.

"Her mother made me her godfather actually, we had so much fun when she was a child, but then when she died – bless her soul – her father married her off to some businessmen's' son. She didn't want to be married, poor girl was only 17, when she had Hana, the husband seemed to settle down and finally get along with her; but she still didn't want to be married to him. The day she told him that she was pregnant again, he left in the night – no one has seen him since. Good riddance if you ask me." Naruto was amazed! Standing in front of him was Tsumes godfather! And he told Naruto a story about her too!

"Bastard… she never talks about her ex, now I know why… so, how much is this going to cost me?" Dahmi let out a quiet, sad chuckle.

"It's a wedding present, this place is closing down soon… hardly any customers come through here, they all want the fancy stuff next-door."

"You're giving this to me for free? But… if I _buy_ it off of you, won't you be able to fix this place up? A bit of paint here, a smile there would help, and you could be booming again." Dahmi shook his head.

"That's not the way it works, it's a sign of the times. This old shop has been here since the First Shinobi war, once something starts dying, there's no bringing it back." Fortunately for Dahmi, he was unaware that as the Judge Of Death, Naruto could do something about that.

"Now get out of here, you'll bring the life back into me otherwise." Naruto smiled at Dahmi and shook his hand again. From only a short while there, Naruto gained a lot of respect for the old veteran, one thing was for certain – the people would soon be flocking to the **Shimura Family Jewellers**, he just had to propose first.

A few days later, Naruto was walking with Tsume from Ichiraku's when Dante landed on his shoulder.

"It is time. Pack your bags Naruto, we need to leave soon, there are only 16 days until the chunin exams and you don't want to be late. Itachi has given me the directions; summon me when you are ready." He pecked Naruto on the side of the head before dispelling, probably at Naruto's apartment, or the Shinigami realm.

"So you'll be leaving soon… and when you come back…" Tsume said. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! I've got to ask her!_

"Hey Tsume? Would you be able to meet me at Ichiraku's tonight? I've got something I want to show you before I leave, if that's okay with you!" he added quickly, becoming highly nervous. She smiled and winked at him.

"It's a date, Ichiraku's at nine?" Naruto nodded his head, not trusting his voice. He shunshined off to his apartment to pack for his fifteen year trip. _Wow… fifteen years. I'm going to be in the Shinigami realm for more time than I've been in ours… fifteen years from Tsume…_ he packed what he thought he would need, weapons, armour, plenty of scrolls, brushes and ink. The Shinigami would have the rest, right?

_Okay! Time to get ready for my date!_ Then, realising that he still had a few hours, he decided to wander the town.

Ever since the finals had been announced, merchants, peddlers and entertainers from all walks of life came to Konoha looking for business. Every night, Kurenai Yuuhi and a selected team of her top genjutsu associates cast a genjutsu over Konoha, making it look like cherry blossoms were perpetually falling from the skies. As he walked, Naruto received looks of both disgust and respect – he smiled at them all, there was no way he would let them get him down. Unfortunately, some would try. He bumped into someone, about to apologise but then he saw who it was: Sakuno Haruno...

"Uuhhhh, can't you just leave me alone, Sakuno?" he sighed, okay, maybe they _could_ get him down.

"We'll _all_ leave you alone, good night demon." She said as she walked off. Something was decidedly _wrong_ about what she just said, emphasising 'all'. He pondered it for a few more moments before looking at the time 8:50. He shunshined back to his apartment, _what can I wear? What do I say? Crap, I've only got a few minutes!_

Naruto was waiting nervously outside Ichiraku's when he saw her: a goddess. At first, he couldn't make out who she was, the cherry blossoms obstructing his view from a distance; then she came into sight: she wore a devil-red dress, exposing much of her cleavage and running down to her ankles. Her shoes were open toed and had a slight heel to them, her hair, which was normally spiky, was straightened and it ran down her shoulders, reaching the top of her breasts. She turned everyone's heads, male and female – but she was all Naruto's. Tsume Inuzuka.

"You clean up well, Naruto." He chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head as he did so. Because he didn't have any 'going-out' clothes, Naruto had to work with what was available. He clawed his way through piles of his matching attire, until at last finding a pair of pants and a jacket at the back of his cupboard – the only articles of clothing that had no blood on them; he also wore one of the clean mesh shirts. Seeing as how he was still in his default attire, Naruto removed the ANBU guards from his shoulder, arms, forearms and legs and left his scythe on the bed; a gentleman didn't carry weapons in front of a lady, also leaving his shuriken and kunai holsters on the bed.

"Wow Tsume…you look, beautiful…" Naruto was starblind – she was a goddess in her own right. Of course, most people were disgruntled and turned away when they saw her walk over to Naruto, but Kakashi was there and he eye-smiled at Naruto.

"You _better_ be thankful, I had to shop for ages to find the right dress, and I don't know how Hana does it – shopping bores the shit out of me." Naruto laughed at her honesty.

"That makes two of us then." She smiled and looked around.

"So where shall we be dining tonight? My young gentleman."

"Actually, I ah, kind of want to show you this first." He said quickly. She raised an eyebrow but held out a hand nonetheless.

"It's fine, you'll like this, I hope." He took her hand and shunshined to his favourite place – the fourth Hokage's head.

"It already had a dominating view of Konoha, but since the start of the month, it's been beautiful. From the dark pockets of night, then to see the lanterns casting their light upon the night sky, is spectacular. But I can think of a better view." As he said this he turned to Tsume. They held each other's hands and stayed in the moment, looking deep into each other's eyes, wanting the moment to last a lifetime. Naruto then began to shake a little.

"The reason… I brought you here… is, because…" he then got on one knee and produced Dahmi's ring.

"I want to marry you Tsume Inuzuka. I know I can't do it now… but when I come back… I want to be your husband." To say she was stunned, is like saying Naruto ate the occasional bowl of ramen – a complete understatement.

"You, want to marry… me?" The fear of rejection brang tears to his eyes.

"Yes… more than anything in the world, if you don't-" he was cut off by two luscious lips on his.

"Yes, yes yes yes yes yes… I do, I will marry you Naruto." If Naruto's heart could beat – it would have exploded. He kissed her with a kiss that was full of passion, love, thanks and desire; she returned it with the same. After a few minutes of an intense tongue battle, they broke apart; knowing where it would have otherwise headed. Naruto embraced her, and made a promise.

"Tsume, I'll stay with you as long as you'll have me, and I promise that it'll be like this the whole way; me by your side giving warmth, me in front of you, protecting you from danger, and me behind you for, well, _you_ know what." She laughed at his last statement, but she knew that he was serious; he wouldn't let any harm befall her. She looked at her ring, in the light so that she could see it.

"Wow Naruto, this must have cost a fortune! Where did you get it?" she asked in amazement.

"You know who I got it from: Dahmi Shimura." To be reminded of the man she thought of as a second father brought a happy tear to her eye.

"As for how much, he said it was a wedding present." _But he'll be paid – I'll not see you go out of business and die because of the villagers, Dahmi._ Naruto placed the ring on her finger, and she shunshined them back to Ichiraku's, to Naruto's confusion.

"Why are you confused? We set a date for Ichiraku's, and I haven't eaten – lets chow down!" They had only eaten their third bowls when Teuchi noticed her ring and laughed.

"So, when is it?" they looked at him puzzled.

"When is what? Teuchi."

"The wedding – unless you gave her that ring for fun? It's fine, I've known for quite a while." Tsume was shocked that he'd known, Naruto was a bit had – who DIDN'T know?

"Please, keep it quiet Teuchi, but sometime after the chunin exams." Teuchi nodded, it was a more than fair request. The shadow that was following them had one though: _I must tell Lord Orochimaru._

About 15 bowls of ramen later, Naruto burped.

"Oh, excuse me." Tsume giggled at him – another thing she did with no-one else – and put her bowl down.

"I guess it's the monster telling you it's full, same goes for me, too." When she finished speaking she stopped for a moment before letting out a burp that was louder than Naruto's.

"See?" they both laughed and paid Ayame for their meal, setting out on their long walk to the compound.

The moment would be forever etched into Naruto's memory. He was walking with Tsume through the crowd when he heard a voice; it was somewhat quiet, but it floated through the mass of people, and to Naruto, made them all go silent.

"_You made one mistake boy, you didn't put any of your soul into that seal._" It chilled Naruto to his core – Orochimaru. Tsume kept walking, not knowing that Naruto had stopped. He was an ordinary man: blue shirt, black pants, short cropped black hair – but Naruto knew something was off; _those eyes!_ Instead of a normal persons eyes, they were Orochimaru's yellow reptilian slits. He walked towards Tsume, Naruto sprant after her, but time seemed to slow down. Tsume turned, finally noticing Naruto wasn't there, to see him running for her; shouting something. She knew something was off, she couldn't quite make out his words. _Tsume… you…look…behind…move!_ Tsume look behind you! But it was too late – Orochimaru grabbed her by the neck and cut, slicing open her jugular. As her life made a hasty exit, she could feel death's cold embrace, seeing the Shinigami next to her.

"**The rules say I take you right now, but let's see what the Judge does.**" Naruto wanted to go after Orochimaru, to mutilate him, flay him and watch as his beating heart was removed from his chest, but his legs wouldn't carry him past Tsume's corpse.

"No, you can't die Tsume, you can't! No, no NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed the primal roar from the depths of his soul, wishing her back to life. He looked up to see Orochimaru disappear into an alleyway, assisted by someone in dark clothes – with pink hair! _Sakuno… Orochimaru… I will rape both your souls... I give you my word I will._

"No… you can't die Tsume… I won't let you! **Shinigami Art: Meet The Reaper!**" Once more, the Shinigami rose from the ground.

"**Judge? Why do you… oh.**" He looked at Tsume's body, already knowing what Naruto was going to say.

"You have to bring her back!" he demanded – at the Shinigami.

"**I have to? Naruto, I have seen this happen over and over again, and I can't say it enough times: I cannot grant personal requests.**" Naruto screamed at the Shinigami.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! There must be something! Anything! I have given you thousands of souls, why do you need this one! Give her back…please." He started to cry, looking into Tsume's dead eyes as he did so.

"**Naruto, there is nothing I can do.**"

"WHY CAN'T YOU! You brought me back… can't you do the same to her… induct her in…" **_Finally, someone was smart enough to ask!_** The Shinigami stroked his chin.

"**There may be… a way…**"

"I'll do it! Anything to bring her back!"

"**Naruto, I could bring her back, but remember, she would be cursed with immortality, the same as you, could you willingly do this?**"

"… I don't know how she would feel… but, I have to do it! Bring her back, now!" he shouted. The Shinigami nodded and put a hand to Tsume's chest, drawing out her soul, before plunging it back in with enough force to shatter a brick wall. Her body spasmed, and she didn't move.

"Why…why isn't she moving? Tell me Shinigami!"

"**Know your place! She is alive, her mind needs time to sort out her memories and assimilate the previous Lady's. She is now the Lady Of Death; for all intents and purposes, she is your wife in the human realm ****_and_**** ours.**" Naruto could not be more grateful to the Shinigami, Tsume was alive. He dropped to a knee.

"My Lord, my life is in your hands, I cannot thank you enough."

"**Your life was already in my hands… but I understand – I will be expecting you soon.**" Naruto nodded, he would return Tsume and go to the Shinigami realm. Tsume took in that drowning breath that someone always took when they were brought back from the dead.

"Wait!" She shouted at the Shinigami, who was about to disappear.

"**Yes?**" she took a few breaths and stood up, before taking a knee."

"My Lord, as I am now dead, I can go to and from the Shinigami realm right? Then, can I go with Naruto?"

"**I suppose you could, yes… but you could not interfere with his training… you could fight with him, but you may not always be with him.**"

"Shinigami, how long does the Lady Of Death have to hold her position before training? And how long for?" Naruto asked him.

"**The Lady holds her position for 4 years, before training for 4 years. So she could be with you, train, and then stay for the remainder seven years.**" It was settled then, Tsume would go with Naruto, but one thing worried her.

"Lord, you said that I would be an immortal, as Naruto is. Wouldn't, over time, we lose our minds because of all the memories? And wouldn't we also look decrepit?" The Shinigami shook his head.

"**Every ten years, all of my immortals minds are expanded, so even in a millennia's time, you can look back on this moment with ease. As for your age? When any of my chosen reach 30, they are stuck that age for the rest of their life – you being exempt, you would stay at 34.**" Tears welled in Tsume's eyes.

"My Lord Shinigami, as your servant I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, so that I can spend eternity with Naruto." The Shinigami laughed at them.

"**You are not my servant, Tsume Inuzuka, Lady Of Death. You have been chosen by Naruto Uzumaki, Judge Of- and Lord Death.**" This brought a confused look to Naruto's face.

"We're not your servants? And what do you mean, 'Lord Death'?"

"**Didn't Itachi ever tell you?... what else did he say then, if you are my servants?"** Naruto was confused; Itachi told him that they all serve the Shinigami.

"Itachi told me that all of your chosen are your servants, that you bestow – or curse – us with immortality, so that we may do your bidding in return for our lives… what are we then if not your servants?" The Shinigami hadn't laughed so hard in centuries.

"**HAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAAA, my bidding for all eternity? It would seem that all of your tricks and pranks have finally caught up with you; my servants for all eternity? HAHAHA. You are not my servants, you are my successors!**"

"Your…successors?...How? You're the Shinigami." He laughed at them once more.

"**HAHAHAHAHA! You are the Judge Of Death, people ask 'how is that possible?' Do you know how I am the Shinigami?**" he asked rhetorically.

"**Or even how old I am… 'Shinigami', Is merely a title, just as you are the Judge Of Death. Once, I was the Judge Of Death, before that, I was a man. This all happened… Epoch's ago. I am the third Shinigami, the first being around Eon's ago. But you are probably wondering how this all happens, right? When a Shinigami tires of tiers existence –which takes a ****_long_**** time- they transcend into something else, something… more. When a Shinigami does this, his host of champions transcend to become the Shinigami and his comrades – with the Judge and Lord, being the Shinigami. My time is running low in this realm, we shall talk more of this later.**" The Shinigami then sunk into the ground, leaving an infinitely thankful, but stupefied, Tsume and Naruto. He took her hand and stood up, gazed into her eyes and cried.

"I… I thought I lost you…. I, Tsume…please don't go…" He embraced her, she crying too.

"I won't, I won't… ever leave you Naruto…. Don't you leave me either…" they both tried speaking, sniffing up their tears all the while.

"I'll never… leave you Tsume, I love you… I… I want you to know that, I love you." finally drying his tears and wiping away hers.

"And… I'll, I 'll love you for all eternity, Naruto." Dante appeared on his shoulder, pecking him on the head.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this touching moment, but we must leave now, otherwise you will miss the window." He drawled as usual. Naruto looked at Tsume, to see if she was alright. After she nodded, he shunshined to the Hokage's tower, surprising the Hokage.

"Ah! Oh, it's you Naruto, and Tsume. What is it? It's rather late." Naruto quickly nodded.

"Old man, I don't have long to explain, so here's the summary: I'm going to the Shinigami realm – you already knew that – for 15 years, it will feel like fifteen days here. Villagers will report a man murdered Tsume and then she disappeared, she was dead, I brought her back; stopped time and the Shinigami brought her to life. Her disappearing was me shunshining here. She has decided to come with me, she is the Lady Of Death, so she will be gone for fifteen days as well. When we come back, she will still look 34, but I will look 28. We're out of time here, we have to go – oh, and she said yes." He then shunshined off, leaving the Hokage to his paperwork.

"Well…that was interesting. You can now no longer surprise me Naruto. Wait… why am I talking to myself?"

Naruto then shunshined her to the Inuzuka house, telling her to pack the essentials; weapons, armour, clothes, Kuromaru. He ran down the stairs to find Kiba making a late night snack, Hana too.

"Alight, summary: I need to leave, nowish actually – gone for fifteen days, when I come back, I'll be 28. Also, people will say that Tsume was murdered." Seeing the look on their faces he quickly added:

"SHES ALIVE, now, well. She _did_ die, but I brought her back, she's coming with me – she's the Lady Of Death, coincidentally, she did say yes to my proposal. Okay, I think that's everything." As he finished his summary to Kiba and Hana, Tsume came down the stairs with a bag in hand and Kuromaru beside her. She ran over to Kiba and Hana, giving them both a big hug and some kisses.

"So he's been over everything, right? Okay, I'll be gone for fifteen days – to you two, that is, 15 years for me. If anyone asks, I'm alive, just taking some time off, Naruto proposed as well- I said yes. Oooh, im going to miss you two so much! Be nice to each other and remember to take the dogs for a run. Love you!" she grabbed Naruto's hand and they shunshined to his apartment

He put his ANBU guards on, attached his scythe and picked up his bag. When he turned around, he saw Tsume on his bed, with one shoulder off of her dress.

"You know, this is the first time I've been to your house… I don't think the Shinigami would mind if we were a few minutes late, would he?" she asked seductively. Naruto didn't know what to do; he was bouncing on his toes in indecision.

"Tsume, I've come to the decision that I _really_ want to, but we need to go. Besides, we'll have fifteen years downstairs. And I promise you – when we get back, we are going to rock the casbah like it has _never_ been rocked before. But… we really need to get going, one second here is probably a week there." She sighed in mock defeat and nodded, then smiled ferally at his promise.

"Okay Dane, lead the way!" Naruto said. Dante jumped off of his shoulder and clawed a large, almost perfect circle in the floorboards.

"Step inside." They both picked up their bags and went inside, Kuromaru between them. Dante slowly spread his wings and a tornado of black death chakra spun in the circle carving. When it hit its peak, Dante slammed his beak into the floor, transporting them instantly outside a well-hidden cave. They picked up their things and stepped inside, meeting a bluish haze – the same haze that would appear whenever Itachi or Naruto slowed down time. They continued walking and came to the back of the cave, encountering a purple portal.

"**Shinigami Art: Judge Of Death Style: Deliberation!**" as he did this, the blue haze became even thicker, he looked at this.

"Well, this is it Tsume, see you on the other side." He jumped through the portal, Tsume hot on his heels.

**Fifteen days and 11 hours later.**

Two figures walked out of a cave in a far-off location, a male and a female. The male took in a deep breath.

"It's good to be home, isn't it, wife." She slapped him playfully on the arse.

"Oh it is, remember your promise?"

**There we have it! 10 chapters down, a third of the story down (approximately). Sorry about the laggy update, by the way, since I'm back at school on Monday, I'll sadly only update two or three times a week – Sorry everyone! So, Naruto and Tsume have returned; what will they do? How will the chunin exams go? Will Naruto ****_finally_**** tame that wicked piece of ass?**

**Find out next time;**

**11 – My Lady**

**As for how old Shinigami are:**

**1 year 1 year**

**10 years decade**

**100 years century**

**1000 years millennium**

**1million year's age**

**10m epoch**

**100m era**

**500m eon**


	12. xx - Author note STORY IS STILL GOING

Sorry about the late chapter update! I WILL have chapter eleven up by/on friday, the reason i have been slow in updating is because im back at school (curse you education!) and am actually rather sleepy all the time... but no worries! This chapter will be up, and the approximate 19 after it; then it's on to my next story: either a NaruIno or a NaruTayuya - all of mine will result in him getting a chick, its just uneventful otherwise. NEXT CHAPTER TOMORROW!


	13. 11 - My Lady

**This is chapter eleven of 'Champion Of The Shinigami' – to 'Gingyz' I'm not too sure, but probably, yeah he'd be their half-sibling. 'thecreatorofpolides', I see where your coming from, and I ****_might_**** have a fight in the last chapter or two, remember, the Shinigami is usually the Shinigami for a few eons (500 mil years), but I might have a 'spar' between Naruto and the Shinigami. Thank you 'Nicszilla', im not sure how that slipped my mind – I've read heaps of FemKyuxNaru stories!**

**Quick question for 'Clandon', how is it a cradle robbing fic? Naruto wants her, they don't bang until he's 28 (bit of a spoiler, but read on) so if you ever read this, dude (or dudette), what the fuck?**

**Sorry about the gripe everyone else, don't own Naruto**

**Recap:** Tsume got murdered (crowd gasps!) but she came back to life! (crowd cheers), the Shinigami also partly explained that Naruto would one day become the Shinigami himself, by the way Naruto proposed – AND SHE SAID YES! Good work little man! Oh and their 15 year trip will be flashbacked over the next few chapters, I was _not_ going to write a whole chapter dedicated to that, although I'll probably ending up writing as much in flashbacks.

Two figures walked through the streets of Konoha, drawing a few gazes, but nothing more than a cursory check to see if they were known, neither were. Although, it was a bit hard to tell; they both had mottled black hooded cloaks on, hiding their hair and body, the cowl also hid part of their faces. You could tell that one was a male and one a female though, the male had broad shoulders and what could be muscular biceps – a fighter perhaps, a samurai, even? The other figure was obviously a female, from the large bust to her seductive behind – an entertainer with her bodyguard, a celebrity perhaps? The male turned to the female.

"Where would you like to go first? The Exams start at ten, so we still have an hour. The compound?" he asked her, she shook her head.

"No, it will be much more amusing to see their faces from the stadium. Ichiraku's? I wonder if they will know who we are?" The male chuckled at her question.

"If they see our faces, possibly. If we only have a limited number of bowls, I don't think they'd know. Ichiraku's it is." They set off to their old restaurant, still remembering the layout of Konoha even though they hadn't been there for fifteen years. When they arrived, they found that it was shut, there was a notice pinned up on the bricks.

"Ichiraku's Restaurant apologises to its customers for not being open, however, we will have a small stand outside the stadium, one hundred metres from the entrance. Open from eight to nine fifty. Wanna go?" the male asked the female after reading out the notification. She grinned ferally, purposely misunderstanding him.

"Don't be a tease, you _know_ I wanna go." And slapped him playfully on the arm, he laughed at her.

"Not until tonight, you know that; believe me, I want to too." His loins stirring at the pleasure that was denied to him the last fifteen years, and the thirteen before that. They set off for the stadium, talking as they went.

"I think I lied to Kiba a bit. The week before I asked you for your hand, I asked him for his blessing. He said yes, and then we talked about now, when we would come back; he said that it would be different, I disagreed, but I think he was right. We've been gone for just fifteen days, and yet we've lived for another fifteen years… they haven't changed at all, but as for us…" she heard the slight worry in his voice, so she held out her hand and intertwined her fingers with his, rubbing his hand with her thumb.

"It'll be alright, what will have changed in the end? We look older. We can be together. What else? It's barley anything. We'll be fine." Her words seem to have had an effect on him; he let out a sigh and nodded, continuing the journey in silence.

They arrived at Teuchi's stall to find him with his back turned washing dishes, and Ayame wasn't in sight. He talked with his back turned.

"Welcome to Ichiraku's! You'll have to excuse me for the delay; I gave my daughter the day off today so I'm dealing with a bit of a backup. What will you have?" he asked generously. The male turned to the female.

"The usual?" he asked her, she nodded.

"One miso-pork and one chicken and vegetable, please." He asked in his deep, somewhat husky voice. Their order made Teuchi stop what he was doing and turn around.

"It can't be… that order, and ring! Naruto? Tsume?" he asked. The female looked to the male.

"We haven't even touched our first bowl and he gets it, kind of ruins the fun, doesn't it?" she said as she removed her hood.

"It does. You'd always recognise our order no matter how much time has passed, right? Old Man?" and he removed his hood as well.

Naruto no longer wore a mask, so his whiskers were on full display, but that wasn't the most eye-capturing thing on his face; a scar ran vertically from his forehead, over his eyelid and down to his mouth. His hair was no longer yellow; it was jet black with streaks of silver going through it, and it wasn't short either, his spikes curved back slightly, the ones furthest back reaching the nape of his neck.

Tsume's face was completely unmarred; she seemed to have gotten younger in fact, no crow's feet nor laugh lines. Her hair; also jet black, but with silver tips instead of strands, was no longer in spikes, it was straight and ran down her neck, reaching the top of her breasts, also covering most of the right side of her face.

"What happened? I heard Tsume was murdered… and then when Naruto disappeared on the same night, I feared the worse… what actually happened to you two? Rumours are running strife." They both saw the pain that their disappearance caused him and so they hugged him as one.

"I'm sorry we couldn't tell you Old Man, but bear with us a little while longer, we're going to reveal everything at the finals. What's this talk of rumours?" He released them from the warm embrace and looked around, seeing no one coming he grabbed a few crates and sat them down.

"Well it's glad to see you both; I can't wait to tell Ayame. But the rumours? They're bad business. It's common knowledge that you were murdered, but everything gets distorted from there, officially – from the Hokage, an ANBU saw the attack and put you into intensive care at the hospital. The rebuttal to that is that he doesn't want to incite panic on such a big occasion. Some say that Naruto was there and spirited you away, to do some kind of demonic ritual, others say that Naruto killed you. It's all a load though; I knew that Naruto couldn't kill you, there were no ANBU patrolling near Ichiraku's, and as for demonic rituals? They still haven't gotten over the fox. Personally, I thought that you were killed, and that Naruto took your body; either to bring you back or kill himself; I frankly couldn't see his mental state without you." he confessed. Naruto wasn't all that surprised at the rumours, but Teuchi's personal thoughts made Naruto think – where _would_ he be without Tsume? Tsume just harrumphed.

"I'm not surprised that the villagers would say that about Naruto, but not believing the Hokage?... has anyone talked to Hana and Kiba? We told them right before we left, after I was killed."

"Well the vet's been closed, some people still he Kiba train in the compound, but neither of them has been seen outside of it – most people think that they're grieving and leave them alone." Naruto raised a scarred eyebrow.

"Most?"

"Some of the other Inuzuka's went over there a few days after to check if they were alright but then left. Their friends have been seen coming to and from there though. I take it that they're keeping quiet about it, giving you a grand entrance, if I hadn't seen you two for myself, I wouldn't know why. So what did they think when they saw you?" Naruto and Tsume smiled at each other.'

"We were going to keep it a surprise until Naruto's fight, just two bystanders. You are the only person who knows about us, actually." Teuchi laughed at that.

"I'll keep it quiet then! But you better be hurrying along, it's almost ten; I was wondering where everyone was for the past hour, but it seems that everyone is already in there."

"It was good seeing you again Teuchi, we'll meet again later – we never got our ramen!" he laughed. They hugged again and made their way to the stadium. When he made sure no one was looking at them, Naruto grabbed Tsume's hand.

"**Shinigami Art: Trick Of The Light**" he whispered, rendering them both invisible. The only people who could see them were those with incredibly keen eyesight, even then, they would think that it was just a trick of the light – hence the name. They jumped effortlessly straight up, landing on the donut roof a hundred metres up without a second thought. They looked at the centre of the stadium, seeing everyone assembled bar Naruto and Sasuke.

"Wonder where Sasuke could be?" a bodiless voice asked.

"Don't know, don't care. I wonder who's up first?" a bodiless voice replied.

"Didn't I tell you? It's Shino and Neji, I hope Shino kicks his ass – Neji's too arrogant for his own good."

In the Kage box, Genma asked the Hokage what he should do.

"Since _two_ participants are missing, the seventh and ninth, we could just go on with the rest of the fights."

"Yes, Lord Hokage." Genma shunshined to the field to tell them the news, while the Kazekage turned to the Hokage.

"I heard a rumour, that Naruto Uzumaki has been missing for fifteen days – ever since that poor woman was murdered, if im not correct?" the Hokage shook his head.

"An attempt was made on Miss Inuzuka's life, yes. But luckily an ANBU was nearby and took her straight to the hospital, she was in critical condition for a week before she finally pulled through; It will take a while, but she will make a full recovery. As for Naruto, he's probably been training; probably passed out for exhaustion and is on his way here now, just give him some time."

"Im just glad that woman is alive." _Oh Sarutobi-sensei, why do you lie? I cut her throat myself, I watched her lifeblood spill onto the ground._

_Orochimaru you sick bastard! I know you have something to do with that, was it you?!_

"If Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha have not arrived when their fights are called, they will be disqualified. Until then, could everyone but Neji Hyuuga and Shino Aburame leave the field? Alright boys, it's the first match of the finals, let's make it exciting and set the bar high. Begin!"

Shino took his hands out of his pockets and insects began to slowly flood onto the field – creating a slight discomfort with the spectators while Neji took up a gentle fist stance.

"Fate has decided that I will win, you may as well give up now." Neji said venomously, Shino just shook his head.

"While I can't speak for fate; you are going to lose this match. Why? You ask, because, you focus solely on taijutsu – and I have no intentions of getting anywhere near you." Shino declared. Neji ran at Shino, going in to score the first blow. He was stopped halfway by Shino's horde of bugs, and seeing no way around or through them he gave an annoyed grunt.

"This is pathetic; I didn't want to have to reveal this so soon, let alone my first attack –**Rotation!**" Neji then spun on the spot, and instead of the bugs getting him, he made a ball of spinning chakra, incinerating the bugs near him.

"Impressive – a ball of chakra, you're still going to lose; Why? You ask, because I predict that you can only do that a set amount of times, and coupled with my kikaichu beetles, your chakra will drain in no time." Neji grunted and pressed on, jumping over the bugs and landing amongst them to do a **Rotation**, creating a path to Shino, who would quickly back away. Most of the spectators were amazed that – even as a ninja – Neji could make a cool ball like that, the ones who weren't were the main branch Hyuuga, fiercely whispering amongst each other that he had been stealing main branch secrets.

_Damn it! I am running out of chakra, the only way I could do this is if I did a 64 palm attack, but my feet and by that, my body, would be able to be latched onto by these chakra-eating bugs. I have to try!_

The next time Neji jumped, instead of doing a **Rotation**, he lowered his stance and extended his right arm out, away from his body.

"You lose Shino, you're in range. **Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms!**"

"**Two Palm!**" he did two chakra-enhanced pecks at Shino's ribs.

"**Four Palm!**" left breast, right rib, abdomen, sternum.

"**Eight Palm!**" left shoulder joint, right hip, abdomen, right breast, lower torso, sternum, left breast, right shoulder joint.

"**Sixteen Palm!**" he did another set of deadly chakra-pecks onto Shino's tenkentsu points in his chest and torso.

"**Thirty-Two Palm!**" another set of attacks that most normal people couldn't keep up with.

"**SIXTY-FOUR PALM!**" he sped up again, doing a lightning–like flurry of sixty-four attacks that only a sharingan could keep up with.

"I have closed your most vital chakra points, you can't use any jutsu, it's over." Neji could feel the strength leaving him, since he hadn't rotated that kikaichu beetles had been on him the entire time.

"For someone who is renowned as a prodigy, you seem pretty stupid." Said a voice from behind Neji. He spun, and saw Shino? He quickly looked behind him to see the other Shino dissolve into bugs.

"If I hadn't substituted with that Bug Clone, that would have hurt – but I did substitute, and I can guess that you are about to fall over in exhaustion." As if on cue, Neji passed out, but Shino let his bugs feast on Neji for a few seconds more – about a weeks' stay in the hospital, instead of a night or two. _That should teach you not to disregard others, be it Haku or Hinata._

"Winner of the match – Shino Aburame!" The crowd cheered for Shino, perhaps as not as hard as they would have if Neji won, but it was still an interesting match.

"Kiba Inuzuka and Gaara of the Sand, please make your way to the battleground." Gaara used the sand to float him to the ground, while Kiba took the stairs.

"Alright, it was a good first match, let's keep it up. Begin!" Gaara turned to Kiba, still with his arms crossed.

"Kiba Inuzuka, know that even though you will lose, I will not kill you." he said in his eerily calm-monotone voice.

"Hah! We're not going to lose! Let's get him Akamaru! **Ninja Art: Man/Beast Clone!**" Akamaru turned into Kiba and they both charged at Gaara, intent on winning.

It only took about 20 seconds of futile attacking before Kiba realised that he would need to step it up.

"Here Akamaru. **Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry!**" he and Akamaru both took a soldier pill before Kiba went into his beast mode: his fangs were longer, his fingers and finger-nails grew into claws, and he was much faster; hopefully fast enough to get past Gaara's sand shield. They renewed their attack, being fast enough to _slightly_ predict if they would get through or not. The only time they could get through was when they attacked from either side. Gaara noticed this and decided that it was time to become offensive; he uncrossed his arms and outstretched his left one, then doing a punching attack. The sand followed his command **(AN: if you see me rhyme it's NOT on purpose!)** and went out at a surprisingly quick speed, catching Akamaru in the ribs, pushing him away and reverting him to his dog form.

"Akamaru! You'll pay for that! **Fang-Over-Fang!**" he spun on the spot before becoming a grey tornado, charging straight at Gaara. Unfortunately, the sand mixed in with his tornado and it spun him out of control, also giving him a sand burn on his hands where it rubbed the skin raw. When he regained control and landed, Kiba spat on his hands and rubbed it in, trying to soothe his wound. _Nothings working damn it! We've only just started the Fang-Blade-Fang so that won't work, Akamaru's down so the Fang-Over-Fang can't be used at its best and I'm not fast enough to get past the shield… not fast enough, what Naruto told me!_ Kiba thought successfully.

**Flashback, three weeks ago: Inuzuka compound 8pm**

_"Alright Kiba, I think I've found a way to get past Gaara's shield."_

_"How? From what you calculated, I'm probably not fast enough to get by it even with my Beast Mimicry." Naruto shook his head._

_"I should rephrase that, I think I've found a way to go __**through**__ Gaara's shield. I'll teach you the Headhunter and Earth Rising Spears jutsu." Kiba was a bit confused._

_"Hold on a sec Naruto, I don't have an earth affinity, and how could you teach me them in just a few weeks?" he asked, Naruto shook his head._

_"Kakashi only has Lightning and Fire affinities but he uses more than that, these will be last resort attacks; since they are not your normal element, Water, they will use up a __**lot**__ more chakra than necessary. And I'm going to copy to your brain all of my memories to do with them – so that means you won't need handsigns or incant the name."_

_"I won't need handsigns? That's freakin' awesome! Alright, let's do this!" Naruto took a deep breath and put a hand to his temple, and his other hand to Kiba's._

_"__**Shinigami Art: Memory Implant.**__"_

_"If you're not going to use handsigns, personally I find it helps it you move your hand in whatever you're doing."_Kiba could remember Naruto's words exactly – the memories were his!

"Alright Gaara, you're going down!" he reached both hands out and pulled them towards him, then from Gaara's left and right, his flanks, from the ground near him; up then down. As Kiba did his own signs, everyone was perplexed, except for Kakashi.

"It can't be! That's Naruto's! How did Kiba learn that!" he exclaimed. The other genin looked at him like he was crazy, but it was Gai who asked.

"What are you going on about Kakashi; it's obvious he's doing some kind of breathing exercise." Kakashi just shook his head.

"No, just watch – you won't believe it otherwise." They turned to the field in confusion, but watched in awe. Two earthen spears shot from the ground and stabbed Gaara in the back, the only thing that saved him was his gourd turning into sand, two appeared by his sides and shot into him; but since he could see them the sand shield blocked them. Two appeared in between the first and second sets, he only just managed to block those ones. He then saw two jet up from the ground, expecting them to come at his sides, but the angles were off; they shot past Gaara into the air, before halting sharply, coming back down on his head. Gaara had to use his arms to cover his head, the sand followed suit in covering his head, but Kiba spears proved too be slightly faster; the sand only partway covered him, protecting him form the piercing tip of the spear, but the brute force of it broke Gaara's left arm. _Alright, I've made an opening, let's make it bigger!_ Kiba took a deep breath; he held his hands out in front side by side, thumb to thumb. He slowly spread them right, before dipping as he crouched, he spun his hands so that they were palm up and shot them to upwards before spinning them palms down and slamming them on the ground.

"**Earth Style: Earth Rising Spears: Spear Rain Jutsu!**"

The ground around Gaara shook, causing tremors with the epicentre right on Gaara. The ground stopped shaking – the calm before the storm – before 100 earth spears shot up out of the ground, screaming skywards before they each jutted out at different angles and rained down on Gaara's head. He used the sand to defend him easily enough, but from the sheer force of Naruto's spears, coupled with Kiba's own inventive twist forced Gaara to his knees. _Crap, I'm almost out of chakra, lucky the Head-hunter uses barley any._ He sunk into the ground and sped out towards Gaara who was defending himself from the last of the spears. Kiba grabbed his ankles and pulled him into the ground as the last spear fell on Gaara's sand shield. Kiba sunk to his knees – he did it.

All of a sudden, the ground around Gaara churned and he was lifted back to the surface, he extended his hand out and the sand grabbed Kiba around the neck.

"Forfeit, I do not wish to harm one of Naruto Uzumaki's friends." Kiba looked at Akamaru, who was still unconscious, he himself was out of chakra – he was surprised that the head-hunter lasted as long as it did. He nodded his head, both to Gaara and Genma.

"Winner by forfeit – Gaara Of The Sand!" Everyone cheered loudly, sure they were sad that Kiba lost, but Gaara made a comeback! And that spear-rain? With no hands as well!

Gaara released Kiba and helped him up, with his own hands, not the sand.

"Do not be ashamed, Kiba Inuzuka. No one has ever wounded me before, yet you have broken my arm. Although you lost, you fought well, I was… happy, to have fought you."

"You too… I thought… I had you with… my spear rain." He panted.

"You almost did, your only mistake was that I can control sand and dirt; it was easy for me to lift myself from the ground." In an excellent show of sportsman shim Gaara helped Kiba from the field, Genma shunshined to the centre again.

"Ino Yamanaka and Temari Of The Sand, please come to the field." As they made it to the centre, Naruto noticed that Ino was sporting a new weapon: on her left hand she had a metal gauntlet, it didn't cover the fingers or knuckles, or the thumb; so she could still punch effectively, but on the back of her hand it had what looked like a kunai embedded into it. _Ha! Nice work Ino, this way you won't cut up your hand, let's see how you do against a long-ranger though._ Naruto thought to himself.

"Okay ladies, remember the winner will be fighting Naruto, Lee or Sasuke, so you might want to keep this battle short – they're all tough customers, good luck. Begin!" Ino took up a confident stance, like a boxer with her left hand extended and her right close to her face.

"You're going down Temari!" she sprang at Temari with a speed that none had seen her with before.

"Hey Naruto? Do you know what Ino's affinities are? Because that looks like Wind Feet to me. I thought that she had a water affinity?" The feminine bodiless voice asked him.

"While they are _dominantly_ water affinitied, she may have a second affinity, or just learned a single jutsu, like I taught Kiba." He explained.

She lunged with her left, Temari easily sidestepped it, but Ino whipped her left arm out as she did so, cutting Temari's arm lightly. She went in close again, with a right hook to Temari's face, but pulled back as Temari went to put her guard up – it was a feint! Ino savagely kicked at Temari's left hip, it impacted and caused damage, but Temari threw her left hand down and captured it! She quickly twisted her body to the right, bringing her out of range of Ino, she reached behind her back and grabbed her fan, lunged forwards with it and thrust with her fan, letting go of her leg at the same time. Ino skidded back and fell to her knees, winded. Temari capitulated on this and opened her gigantic fan and swept it in front of her, creating a great gust of wind to smash into Ino, blowing her further away. Ino had recovered by that time and so took the hit, but also rolled into the trees inside the stadium, concealing herself for the moment.

"Come out little girl, unless you're afraid?" Temari taunted at Ino, hoping to produce a rise out of her. Ino knew what she was trying to do and ignored her; she moved stealthily through the underbrush and now faced Temari's rear. _It's too risky to do a Mind Transfer from here, there's no water around to use any water jutsu, I guess I'll have to try and surprise her from here, with a Wind Feet and Shieldpierce combination._ Ino moved a bit further along until there was a clear stretch from her to Temari, applied wind chakra to her feet and propelled herself forwards, shooting off at high speed with her kunai-glove outstretched for maximum damage. Temari noticed her attack at the last moment, knowing that she could easily get past her fan if it was closed; she splayed it out, covering her whole body, but showing the vulnerable metal inside. Ino slammed into the metal insert at such a force that it ripped apart like paper, ripping part of it out and continuing through, making contact with Temari. With such speed, and a lunge, Ino's endpoint descended; stabbing her in the left thigh, Temari screamed and Ino pulled her kunai glove out.

"Genma, she can't continue, get a medic nin!" Ino called out, Temari was about to protest, but then remembered her leg and stayed silent. Some medic nin carried Temari off in a stretcher and Genma called out:

"Winner of the match – Ino Yamanaka!" She went to the infirmary as well, to check up on both Kiba and Temari.

"Wow Ino! I saw it on the TV, nice work out there, poor Temari though." Kiba commented when Ino came to see him.

"Well I had to win… but it was a good combo with my Wind Feet and Shieldpierce, right?" tapping her gauntlet as she did so.

"Shieldpierce? You mean your kunai gauntlet? Why's it called that?" she face palmed.

"You Idiot! It's called 'Shieldpierce' for a reason, when it was just a kunai on my hand, I got through Kin's guard, and now, I _pierced_ Temari's _shield_, dumbass!" putting extra emphasis on 'pierced' and 'shield'.

"Whatever, so you gonna stay with me and watch the next match? Don't forget: you'll be up against Rock, Sasuke or Naruto… man it's gonna be awesome when I see him!"

"Do you really think… he'll be here? I mean, he hasn't been seen since…" Ino didn't bring it up; Kiba only let her in for short stints after his mother got killed. Kiba was indecisive about what to say, aw screw it.

"Hey Ino, come here a second." He beckoned her closer then looked around, seeing no one in hearing distance, he spoke;

"You _have_ to stay here after I tell you this but; (Naruto will be here, it won't look like Naruto, but trust me, he'll be here, and mum? She's alive – DON'T tell anyone)" he whispered. Ino gasped, she was alive?

"But Kiba, how?"

"I don't know all the details, but…" Kiba regaled to her what happened the night Tsume was 'murdered', explaining that her and Naruto left, but he didn't say what for – Naruto would tell them all. As he was telling her about all of this, the next match was starting.

"Could Rock Lee, and Sasuke Uchiha – if he's in the arena, come to the centre." Rock jumped down from the centre, then began searching the crowd for Sasuke's face. After 30 seconds of waiting, the crowd was beginning to get restless – where was the last Uchiha? – And Genma was thinking about calling the match; when a private instructor shunshined in, his hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"It's about time, alright you two, let's keep it clean, Begin!" Rock jumped straight in, running at Sasuke, intent on making it a taijutsu battle. They traded blows for the better part of a minute before rock jumped back.

"How can you keep up with my taijutsu?" he asked, Sasuke just grunted and looked Rock in the eyes, he had his sharingan activated, both eyes had three tommoe (the little commas) in them, showing two fully matured Uchiha eyes.

"The sharingan is the ultimate dojutsu; I can predict what you are going to do, just as you do it." Rock came at him again, high roundhouse, blocked by arm, high roundhouse, blocked by other arm. _An opening!_ Rock then punched Sasuke hard in the guts, Sasuke skidded for a few metres before laying still.

"Sasuke, my punch was not very hard, are you alright?" ever the youthful and good sportsman, Rock walked over to Sasuke, then he saw a leg twitch – a feint! He readied himself and ran at him, he could have done a knee drop, he could have down a sliding kick; we'll never know, because just before he could initiate any attack Sasuke rolled over and finished a seal.

"**Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!**" the fireball slammed into Rock and burned part of his suit and skin, he tried getting up but Sasuke ran over to him and punched him in the kidney, as he was falling to the ground, Sasuke did a savage axe kick, rendering Rock unconscious.

"Winner by knockout – Sasuke Uchiha." The crowd went wild – the Uchiha are back! No one can beat an Uchiha! Long live the last Uchiha! Only the rookies and jonin cared at how underhandedly he 'won' the match.

"You're pathetic; you can't call yourself a ninja." Luckily, Rock was unconscious and so could not hear Sasuke's venomous words. Back in the stands, Gai was furious that someone could be so unyouthful, especially when it's not a real battle; several people were required to restrain him.

Tsume turned to her bodiless counterpart.

"So this is it? The big you think they'll believe you?" if she could see him, she would have seen him shake his head.

"It doesn't matter what they believe, they have to, and if they don't? Well, they're just idiots – the invasion though, _that_ should turn people's heads. Are you alright for now?" he asked his wife.

"Yes, wait until they call your name, that will make a more dramatic entrance." He laughed at her.

"Sasuke, since that fight was over relatively quick, and you suffered little injury, would you like your fight now? We can offer a five minute break, considering the circumstances." Sasuke just grunted, and then raised his voice so all could hear.

"I will fight now, it doesn't matter though, Naruto is too much of a coward to fight someone as powerful as me!" The crowd roared at his declaration – he was challenging him on the field of battle! That's the Uchiha I know! Sasuke will win! The crowd loved Sasuke, and he knew it.

"We'll see about that!" a voice thundered above the stadium. Everyone turned their heads, looking for the man who would interrupt their beloved Sasuke's speech. Two black figures materialized out of thin air; one was standing on the roof, the other was soaring down to the ground, knees up to their chest and their black cloak billowing around them. He landed with a great enough force, and from such a height, that when he landed a small cloud of dust was thrown up, obscuring him. When the dust settled, they saw a man of about six-foot-four, with a muscular body – you could tell this from his broad shoulders, large biceps and thick legs – but they couldn't tell anything else about him, the cloak (which was actually ripped al around the edges) concealed him from sight. The crowd, Sasuke and Genma all looked at the man.

"Weren't you ever taught that it's impolite to stare?" his deep voice rumbled, with a slight huskiness to it.

"Who are you, stranger?" The hooded man took a step back in mock hurt.

"Genma, you don't recognise me? The man who saved your fiancé." As he said this he removed his hood, exposing his face to everyone there.

"Naruto? You can't be Naruto! You look like you're in your twenties, get out of here!" Genma was getting slightly annoyed that someone would try and claim to be Naruto, a boy who he considered a close friend. _His reputation must have gone far, for someone to try and imposter him, but I don't think anyone expected him to be a boy._

"No, it's me. Sasuke, on the day of the genin exams, you called Dante a 'Shaggy Rat', Genma, after thanking me nonstop for four minutes, you then told me that you would get Ibiki to walk Anko down the aisle – 'one way or another'. If you still don't believe me; who else has these whisker marks?" pointing to his cheeks. Genma's senbon fell out of his mouth, Sasuke just grunted.

"Naruto!? It really is you! What happened?" Everyone was on the edge of their seats, wanting to hear it; if he really was Naruto, how is he older? What happened to his hair?

"Now is not the time for that, Sasuke and I have a fight, don't we Sasuke?" he asked the emo. Sasuke kept his indifferent face, but Naruto could see his hands slightly shaking. Sasuke must have noticed this to, and so put them in his pockets.

"No, you cheated – how else could you not be so weak." He said it as a statement, not a question. Naruto turned towards the Kage box.

"Lord Hokage! Did you or did you not say that _any_ method of training was allowed?" The Hokage nodded his head.

"That is true, you must tell me, how was your trip?" they almost shouted their conversation due to the large distance between them, but every word was caught and devoured by the audience.

"I've finally gotten taller, so it was very good, thank you! For those who don't know where I went, I travelled to the Shinigami realm – for fifteen years." The crowd wanted to shout that he was a liar, but it would be one of the few possible explanations for his changes, so they whispered their thoughts among themselves.

"Well Sasuke, Naruto is right – he was allowed to train, in the Shinigami realm for fifteen years? Unless you wish to forfeit?"

"An Uchiha never forfeits!"

"In that case, Begin!" Sasuke jumped back sharingan blazing, waiting to see Naruto's strength. Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"Alright Sasuke, I understand that you are scared of fighting me, so I'll give you a fighting chance!" he said jubilantly.

"I will give you one shot, an absolutely free shot, hitting me anywhere you like with your most powerful jutsu; could get me in the balls, maybe my head, a kunai to the eye perhaps? It doesn't matter, one free shot at me, the only movement I shall make, is turning to face you." The subconscious of Sasuke was shitting itself, even before now Naruto could kill him, get out of there! Even if Sasuke could hear his subconscious, he wouldn't listen – how could the clanless fuck beat him?_ I'll take the shot, so I can remove all those silly namesakes he has, THEIR ALL LIES! He can't have that much power._

"Fine, I'll do it." He then ran towards the stadium wall, upon reaching it, he began to run up it, halting near the top and sticking to it with chakra. He plunged his left hand into the wall, holding his wrist with his right hand. In his hand appeared a ball of light, about the size of a softball that was blue and had long electric waves coming off of it. When the ball reached its maximum level, Sasuke began to run down the wall and towards Naruto with his hand held to his side. In the stands Gai turned to Kakashi.

"Kakashi! Is that what I think it is!? How could you teach someone so unyouthful the Chidori!" Gai raged at Kakashi, who for once shouted back;

"Do you think I wanted to! The council made me!" Gai simmered down a bit after hearing that – his eternal rival was forced to, it's understandable but still; it's a devastating attack in the hands of someone so power-hungry.

"Kakashi, what's the chidori?" Haku asked him.

"Not many know of it as the Chidori, most know it as One Thousand Birds, for the chirping sound it makes, or the Lightning Blade, because I cut a bolt of lightning in half with it." Haku and the rookies looked on at Kakashi with awe – he cut lightning in half? Kakashi then looked closer at Sasuke and his chidori.

"What is he doing?! The curse mark is active, I thought the chidori looked black, I have to stop him!" he was stopped as four ANBU surrounded him, they all had image-less masks; the sign of ROOT, and the ANBU controlled by the council.

"Kakashi Hatake. This fight is not to be interfered with, if you try and interfere, we are authorised to use _any_ force necessary to detain you. The council would also like to inform you that Sasuke has been given permission to use his seal; so long as he thinks he is in control."

"You dumbass! The curse seal can't be controlled!" though he wanted to help, he knew he would be helping no-one if he died. They all looked on in horror as Sasuke neared Naruto, waiting for the attack that would end their friend's life. _DIE NARUTO!_ Sasuke screamed in his head as he pulled his hand back and then slammed it into Naruto. A large black light imploded on Naruto, throwing up dust and obscuring the spectator's vision.

"Is that it? I expected more from an Uchiha, my my, you are still too weak." Everyone was beyond gobsmacked when they saw that Naruto was unhurt – not even his cloak was damaged! Sasuke's hand was in front of Naruto's chest, just sitting there.

"What! How could master Sasuke's attack have done no damage!?" one of the ROOT shouted. _Master Sasuke?_ They all thought simultaneously. Naruto looked down at Sasuke.

"Well, now that you've done that; my turn." He moved his right hand across his body and then backhanded Sasuke in the face. The impact was so strong that Sasuke was sent flying into the side of the stadium, eighty metres away.

**3 minutes ago, atop the stadium.**

"We'll see about that!" Naruto thundered as he jumped from his position above the stadium, leaving Tsume visible and amused at his entry. Right after he jumped, drawing everyone's attention, four loyal ANBU surrounded Tsume.

"Intruder! State your name and reasons for being here! This is a restricted area!" Tsume stayed still and giggled.

"Easy boys, I'm not an intruder; Tsume Inuzuka, and I'm here to watch my husband fight an arrogant fool." They looked at her in disbelief, Tsume was dead!

"That's a lie; she died fifteen days ago, murder. Who are you?" she laughed at them again.

"I told you, Tsume Inuzuka, and while I did die, I was brought back. Still don't believe me? Ask me something only I would know." The ANBU looked at each other and one of them nodded.

"If you really are Tsume Inuzuka; who is your dog companion? How many children do you have? What are their names? What is your husband's name?" Tsume couldn't help but laugh, the leader of the ANBU was getting rather annoyed at that.

"Kuromaru, two, Kiba and Hana, my husband's name is Naruto." The ANBU were taken aback – she was married to the Demon Of The Leaf? Isn't he thirteen?

"I get what you're thinking, look at the arena and listen to what he says." While the ANBU kept an eye on her, they _did_ want to hear what was going on.

"I've finally gotten taller, so it was very good, thank you! For those who don't know where I went, I travelled to the Shinigami realm – for fifteen years….

**Normal time, Naruto just backhanded Sasuke.**

Naruto walked over to Sasuke and placed a hand on his curse seal, he applied chakra and he instantly regained consciousness.

**"**We can't have the great Sasuke Uchiha passing out, let's get up." He threw Sasuke to the middle of the field and began to advance. Sasuke quickly recovered and did some shaky handseals.

"**Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!**" Sasuke took in a deep breath, put his right hand to his mouth and shot multiple small fireballs at Naruto. Naruto saw these coming and with contemptuous ease swatted them out of his way.

"Is this ALL the great Uchiha can do?" Sasuke began to pale, Naruto kept slow, long strides towards Sasuke, who in return began to step backwards. The crowd saw their 'Great Uchiha's' cowardice and began to boo – he was the last Uchiha, wasn't he supposed to be an amazing ninja?

"S-Stay back! Arrgghhh **Chidori!**" Sasuke knelt down and charged up his black chidori then ran at Naruto. As Sasuke came closer, Naruto just sighed and grabbed Sasuke's hand and snapped his wrist, disrupting the Chidori.

"Genma, the little shit can't continue." Genma saw that, once again, Sasuke had passed out and so called the match.

"Winner by knockout – Naruto Uzumaki!" the crowd began to cheer and chant.

"De-mon of-the-leaf. De-mon of-the-leaf." Naruto crouched down and jumped straight into the air, back flipped and landed next to Tsume and the ANBU – 100 metres up.

"What's the meaning of this? I respectfully ask that you back away from my wife." The ANBU looked at each other before shunshining away – he could probably kill them if he wanted to.

"Pretty impressive entrance, if I do say so myself." Naruto bowed low and swept his hand across his body.

"I aim to please, now, Shino versus Gaara. I wonder how Shino will go about this match, Gaara's sand versus his bugs – honestly, I don't like his chances." Tsume just shrugged her shoulders.

"Shino Aburame and Gaara Of The Sand, this being the semi-finals, you are allowed the chance to withdraw – but you've come this far... – do either fighters have a problem with this matchup?" Shino nodded.

"My bugs won't fight, so I won't fight." Genma nodded, he would have little to no chance without his bugs, even more so against Gaara.

"Winner by forfeit – Gaara Of The Sand!" the crowd clapped for Shino, sure, they wanted a fight, but Shino couldn't win, so they could respect that.

"Ino Yamanaka and Naruto Uzumaki, please report to the centre." Naruto jumped from the stadium roof and Ino came running from the infirmary.

"Same as before, semi-finals, do either contestants have a problem with this matchup?" Ino was about to raise her hand and quit, but Naruto stopped her.

"Ino, yes, I'll more than likely win, but it'll be like my fight against Kankuro, let's see you push yourself and give it your all, please?" he asked, she nodded.

"Begin!" Naruto turned to her.

"Okay, so you've got your kunai gauntlet – nice invention by the way – no water to use water jutsu, you have the Wind Feet technique, do you have any other wind jutsu?" she shook her head.

"No, after I showed Anko my Shieldpierce, she directed me to Asuma; he taught me Wind Feet and started me off in this style." She took her stance again, showing Naruto what she meant.

"Nice, a traditional boxing stance with the flair of a jutsu and a kunai. Alright, come at me with the intent to kill, let's see if I can't fix up any mistakes you make." She was a little hesitant to come at him with the intent to kill, but then remembered that he could take her down with a pinkie if need be.

She charged at him with her Wind Feet and Shieldpierce combo, he deftly sidestepped and grabbed her.

"Alright, now most people can't dodge something that fast from close range, suggestion: don't always start with that move – although deadly, an experienced opponent can see it coming a mile away." He released her and she began attacking again, this time, trying to get under his guard with the point of Shieldpierce and slash at him with the sides.

"Nice idea, slashing with the side. Has Asuma taught you how to apply wind chakra to a blade?" he asked, she shook her head.

"No, it's still pretty difficult just to do Wind Feet; I've got a full water affinity." She explained. She continued trying to cut, slash and stab at him.

"I see… you know how to apply wind chakra to your feet, try applying it to your triceps and arms, allowing for a quick stab when they're not expecting it."

"You mean, LIKE THIS!" she lunged with a right jab, applied wind chakra to her left arm and stabbed him.

"Yes, like that." She was amazed; he stopped her stab with a finger?! Naruto held up a finger – as if to say 'one more thing' – that completely stopped her attack, at the same time, as quick as light he grabbed a kunai from his belt inside his cloak and held it to her throat.

"Well, it was fun but, could you forfeit?" She was sweating – she didn't even see him move!

"Uh Genma, I forfeit."

"Winner by forfeit – Naruto Uzumaki!" The crowd cheered for Naruto and Ino, sure she lost, but she tried – and leant from it to!

"Alright, for the final match, we have Ga-" his voice was cut off as the Kage box exploded, seconds later, more explosions were heard near the west and east gates. A sleeping jutsu was cast over the crowd by enemy ninja, thankfully, Leaf Shinobi disrupted the jutsu around them; so that the civilians would sleep and not get in the way, while the Shinobi were free to fight. Ino went off the field before the attack so Naruto was alone on the field, at the same time, roughly 100 sound Shinobi shunshined to the field, the rookie's, Kakashi, Gai and his team, Hayate, Anko and Genma all shunshined to Naruto.

"Naruto, we've got these Sound ninja, help the village, go!" Kakashi shouted to him. Naruto nodded to him and jumped atop the stadium, landing next to Tsume.

"Well Tsume, it looks like this is it, how do we want to go about it, you take the west and I'll take the east?"

"Yes, I wonder if I'll get a name out of this; you have enough for the both of us! We have to be quick though." She pointed at the Kage box, four Sound Shinobi had cast a black barrier around the box, with Orochimaru and Sarutobi duking it out.

Naruto grabbed Tsume by the waist and pulled her close to him, kissing her deeply.

"I'll see you soon, Tsume. Be careful." He whispered.

"I'll be fine, if I can beat the Shinigami, I can beat these. You be safe as well." She whispered back. They each split off, Tsume going west towards the Suna force, and Naruto west, towards the Oto force. He found the largest voice he could find and jumped atop it. He thundered in a voice that somehow carried it over the din of battled and carried itself to everyone's ears:

"To the people of the Leaf! You thought I died, and to the invading force; THE GOD OF DEATH IS BACK FROM HELL!" It was always his favourite name that he attained through battle, Demon Of The Leaf was just the one that everyone knew; but whether or not they knew his name before today, they would all know it afterwards.

He jumped off the building and landed in front of the gate, facing what seemed to be an unending horde of Sound ninja. He turned towards the Leaf forces behind him;

"Leaf Shinobi! I have this handled! Help with the evacuation, NOW!" He roared. They were hesitant at first, but having seen his enormous strength – and this was _after_ he killed a tailed beast – they quickly followed his order.

Naruto summoned his blood-red scythe, it stayed the same shape, but grew in size over time, it was now seven foot tall. He also summoned Vengeance, who was three metres tall, two metres wide, and four metres long, she was finally able to talk.

"Finally, mortals! Whose blood shall I slake my thirst on, Naruto?"

"I shall deal with the main advance, take out those retreating and trying to flank past me." She sped off in a flash of red, while Naruto calmly walked forwards; he was going to enjoy this.

**Same time, west gate.**

Tsume looked at the oncoming host of Suna ninja, and after finally convincing the Leaf ninja to help the evacuation – she had some space to work with.

"I am the Lady Of Death – who would like to see why?" she called to the thousand-strong pack. They cried their war cries and began their jutsu.

"This is why: **Death Style: Unleash Hell!**" Being a death jutsu, she didn't need handsigns; rather, she moved them in the way it would happen. Her hands were covered with a black flame; she moved them from her sides to her front, wrists overlapping in an X, she twisted them so they were palms up, moved them across so they were adjacent to each other but still out front, clapped them together raised them up above her head before separating them and slamming them down on the ground. Only a score of the Sand ninja heard what she said, waiting in fear, the other 480 charged past them. It took a moment before Tsume's jutsu took effect, but when it did, it was _spectacular_.

The sky ripped asunder, turning a deep red all across the horizon (which reminded Naruto way too much of Tsukuyomi) before giant black meteors fell from the heavens – or possible hell in the sky – and turned most of the Sand ninja into blood and gore; if a meteor hit them. The heat radiating off of them vaporized the ninja around them, making their bodies run like lead. Tsume stopped her hell rain after a minute and surveyed her damage; there were only twelve of the five hundred Suna ninja, all of which were having psychotic attacks at seeing their friends and comrade's bodies melt before their eyes, Tsume just laughed at how easy it was, and then reflected on the deaths she caused.

**Two minutes earlier, east gate.**

Naruto saw the sky grow red, and after the hairs on the back of his head stood up, he smiled at what Tsume was doing. He faced the onrushing horde of at least one thousand Oto ninja, smiling at the blood he would soon shed. He summoned his black wings, missing feathers in some places due to his battles **(AN: Trinity Blood wings)**, he stopped walking; facing the oncoming mass that now had summoned three giant snakes. He took in a deep breath and stretched his wings, _should I take them out while flying above the ground? Or should I use my wings and Judge speed?... Judge speed._ In the blink of an eye, the first row of charging Shinobi were headless, the next blink Naruto was high in the sky and diving fast towards the ground, he pulled his right hand back and the moment he hit the ground he punched it; with an infusion of death chakra. A blast wave of 20 metres killed all Shinobi, sucking the life from their bodies. Naruto stood up and looked around, all of the Oto nin were charging at him; hands ready for jutsu, kunai drawn and snakes charging. He pulled his scythe back and threw it, due to the chakra in it, it continued to circle and circle, mutilating and cutting off body parts until it hit a tree and stopped._ Damn, still about eight hundred ninja left. I don't want to use any elemental jutsu, I suppose I could use some death jutsu… but what could kill them _all_, and swiftly too?_ Naruto thought, and then an idea came to him.

"You are sound ninja, right? So I guess that means you like music. **Death Style: Death Tone.**" Naruto then made an odd sound in his throat, it was like a low, keening 'eeeee', it rapidly grew in pitch until Naruto sounded like a small girl going 'eep!', before he drew his hands as though in prayer to his lips, pushed them to out to arm's length before stretching them out far behind his back, and then doing a single clap. All they heard was a single clap, then; nothing. They looked at each other – _what did he do?_ – they got their answer when they began to stumble around, before their ears began to bleed and finally, their brains exploded; pushing their eyes out of their sockets and a rain of blood and brain sprouted from their noses and ears. Naruto stumbled to the ground, sweat rimming his brow.

"Damn… these large scale death jutsu… still take a bit out of me." He regained his feet and surveyed his damage: the ground was red with sprinkles of purple – from the brains – and about 300 metres away stood the remainder of the sound army: 200 ninja that were rapidly fleeing – he really _is_ the God Of Death! Run for it! Naruto just smiled at their backs; from the right flank he could see a quick red line – Vengeance. She tore through them like paper; and their deaths were not slow either, from Naruto's jutsu, they lasted about ten seconds, Vengeance severed limbs but left them alive to bleed out; no medic nin could save any of them. Knowing that Vengeance would mop up the rest, he shunshined to the stadium.

He was at the top of the stadium, from where he was observing before; most of the rookies were holding their own and acting as one large team, Gai, Anko and Kakashi were killing left right and centre – they were fine. The red sky disappeared and Tsume appeared next to him.

"The Sand has been turned to glass, The Sound?"

"The Sound has played its last chord. C'mon, we need to get to the Old Man; Orochimaru's mine." They jumped over to the barrier, one of the ANBU was about to touch it when Naruto stopped him.

"Forbidden jutsu, it will kill you if you touch it. Stay out of this, and don't net any ninja near." He commanded. Naruto pushed through the barrier with Tsume behind him – they were dead, what would it do to them? Orochimaru had just summoned three coffins, Sarutobi stopped one of them with a shuriken barrage, and he didn't look too good.

"Hey Old Man! Let me take over here, you've done your part." The Third Hokage shook his head.

"No Naruto, Orochimaru was my student; it is my place as his sensei to kill him."

"Hokage, Orochimaru _was_ your student, you _were _his sensei. It is not your fight, it is mine – ours." As Naruto was speaking, Tsume walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder; what prompted him to say 'ours'.

"Sarutobi, you have done so much for this village, all Naruto and I ask is a chance to repay you." Sarutobi was saddened, if he had of killed Orochimaru all those years ago, none of this would have happened, now it is up to the next generation to fix my mistakes.

"Very well. Don't die Naruto, or else Tsume will kill you. Don't die Tsume; what would Naruto do?" they both nodded their heads at him; this fight was theirs now. Orochimaru actually took note of who he was fighting; the boy from the forest and, who was with him? It doesn't matter, they will both die! Orochimaru flung his hands out at them, and from his sleeves came a multitude of snakes that were homing in on Naruto and his offsider.

"What!?" one moment they were there, the next they weren't.

"What trickery is this!?" Orochimaru hissed at them.

"No tricks, just speed." Said a deep voice from behind him. Orochimaru spun, be even his snake like reflexes couldn't save him from the chakra-enhanced punch that hit him directly in the face.

"Hhhhmmm, Tsume, he's not dead, but he's not alive either… I think he's made a pact with a demon, he's going to be much more resilient and durable than what we though… one minute turns?" Naruto asked his wife. She smiled in reply and removed a watch from inside her cloak and placed it on her wrist.

"60 seconds, go!" Naruto shot forwards at Orochimaru, shooting a left jab while he was at it. Their fight lasted the full sixty seconds; Orochimaru used everything in his arsenal, while Naruto only used taijutsu. He jumped back to Tsume and she handed him her watch.

"Remember me? You killed me, now im going to return the favour, nothing more, nothing less." Orochimaru was slightly confused; he had killed a _lot_ of people – who was she?

"Kukukuku… I'm sorry my dear, but I have no idea who you are." Tsume smiled and pulled her hood back – Orochimaru gasped.

"Impossible! I saw you die! Who are you people!" Orochimaru demanded, first this man was supposed to be Naruto – who looked like he was almost thirty – and now this woman was supposed to be dead.

"I told you in the stadium, we've been in the Shinigami realm for the past fifteen years; as to how she's alive, I revived her. I can do that, you know? Bring people back from the dead, and I myself am dead… I guess you could say that we're, _immortal_." This comment really pushed Orochimaru's buttons – just like Naruto knew it would.

"Fine! I'm not afraid of you, let's make this even, two dead people fighting two dead people!" He did some handsigns and the doors of the coffins fell down, revealing the first and second Hokage's. They looked at each other, Naruto and Tsume and the Hokage.

"Sarutobi, why are we here?" They asked the old man, he nearly had tears in his eyes as he saw two of his oldest friend's bodies being desecrated.

"It… you're under a seal… you don't want this." He said to them. Orochimaru sunk two kunai into the backs of their heads, placing them under his control. Naruto unsummoned his scythe from the tree it was stuck in and resummoned it to him.

"Lord Hokage's, whether or not you want to do this, I must kill you both. Know that you will finally rest." Knowing that going up against two Hokage's was a little risky, Naruto used his complete judge speed to swing his scythe back, lunge forwards and slice them both in two, then again in the head; entirely ridding them of Orochimaru's control. Orochimaru backpedalled as he tried to comprehend what he just saw.

"I-Impossible! No one can kill a Hokage that quick, let alone two! What are you!" Naruto just shook his head and pointed to their corpses.

"What is dead can never die; you summoned them at _perhaps_ ten percent power, possibly less. As for what _we_ are? Personally, Tsume Inuzuka and Naruto Uzumaki; although we're married we want to keep our own names. Formally? I am the Judge Of Death, and Lord Death, she is the Lady Of Death. Together? We are your doom." Tsume patted him on the shoulder and handed him the watch.

"60 seconds… go." Tsume calmly walked towards Orochimaru, who for the first time in his life, cried with fear.

"Is something wrong? Did I hurt you? Hahahahahahaaaaaaa, Orochimaru, one of the sannin, often considered the strongest of the sannin – is afraid of little old me? Meh. It doesn't matter. See, here's how this is going to work, we're going to kill you, slowly and painfully, then we're going to send your soul down to the Shinigami's realm where the both of us and him can torture your soul for all eternity. But first." In a microsecond, Tsume's hands were in Orochimaru's chest. They already snapped through his sternum on impact, and she was now pulling them apart, ripping his ribs out like wings on the front of his chest. She then removed a tanto from inside her cloak and began to flay his arms, skinning them first, then hacking each individual muscle from its place until only bone was left, which quickly fell to the ground once the tendons were removed.

"…3, 2, 1. Time!" Naruto put the watch in his pocket and walked over to Tsume as she was dismantling Orochimaru's arms. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her up, spinning her around as he did so

"No fair, you went over time; _I _could have been doing that but noooooooo. Anyway, let's get this over with." They both turned to Orochimaru who had a victorious grin on his face, he rolled his head to the side before facing at them again – a sword was coming out of his throat! The blade pierced Tsume's stomach; she gasped and spat out blood. Then she wiped it away and laughed.

"W-W-What going on!? The Kusanagi **(AN: 'Grasscutter', like the Excalibur of Japanese mythology) **can cut through anything! The poison on it will kill you in less than a minute! Why are you laughing!?" Orochimaru was more than fearful of the duo, he was absolutely terrified. Tsume just breathed out a horrifying laugh and pulled the blade out of her.

"We already told you: what is dead can never die; that's a lie, there are four things that can kill us, but you're not one of them." She grasped the blade again and wrenched it from his head, ripping out the back of his throat in the process and threw it away.

"**Shinigami Art: Soul Store.**" She reached into Orochimaru's chest and pulled out a glowing purple orb; his soul. Instead of wrenching it out, she held it just out of his body for ten seconds; what would have felt like years to him, years of having every nerve ending in his body doused in lava and never dulling, reliving every moment as though it were the first; before Tsume reluctantly pulled it from him and smashed it into the ground – sending it into the Shinigami's realm; becoming their plaything for all eternity.

The Third Hokage looked at them mystified.

"How, did you kill him? I know… that you are powerful… but I had no idea… ergh." He keeled over and clutched at his stomach, blood seeping from between his fingers.

"Crap! Old Mann, what's wrong?" Naruto asked worriedly, the Hokage just shook his head.

"He… got me with Kusa…nagi in the first few seconds… I'm on my way… out now." He grunted and fell to his side.

"Not if I can help it Gramps! This is gonna sting! **Shinigami Art: Lord Death's Sway!**" He placed his right hand that was glowing black onto the Third Hokage's forehead. The Hokage had a fit of shaking before his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"**INNOCENT!**" The Hokage drew in a drowning breath and looked at Naruto.

"What did you do… I feel fine… more than fine, I feel great!" He jumped up with a speed that belied his age. Naruto smiled at him.

"As Lord Death, I can override any judgement the Judge Of Death makes – me – and so I reversed the poison, sealed the wound, replaced some bones and removed your… cancer." The Hokage was sad at this, he was aware that he was on his last legs, only a year or two left in him – but he would be damned if he just let it take him! But Naruto removed it… just like that.

"Naruto… I won't ask how you did it, but thank you." He hugged Naruto as he cried; he hadn't told anyone about his cancer, and now that it was gone, he could finally shake the fears that came with it.

"It's alright Gramps, it's alright. Tsume, can you deal with the ones holding the barrier up?" she nodded to him and went to dispatch the four that were keeping the barrier sustained. Because they were all focused on the barrier, they weren't even aware that Orochimaru was dead, the fat one didn't even hear her walk up behind him, nor did he hear a blade cutting the air, but he did feel his head being removed from his shoulders. As the barrier faltered, the other three Sound ninja turned to see what happened. A pale 'man' with two heads saw a black figure – then he was dead, one with six arms saw this and began to make a bow from his spit, he too saw the black figure and died. The fourth ninja, a redheaded female, began to run as soon as the barrier was down; she was stopped by six ANBU surrounding her.

"Fuck! Alright faggots! Bring it on!" she couldn't be captured – if Orochimaru got his hands on her, she shuddered to think about it. A woman with a concealing cloak wrapped around her materialised in front of the redhead, and placed herself in the ANBU's way.

"Stop. Girl, Orochimaru is dead. Surrender now and we will not harm you, fight us, and you will live the rest of your days as a torso only – choose." She couldn't believe it – Orochimaru was dead? The chick in front of her said it with such conviction and authority though, well she would have been fucked either way – let's see what these dickheads do.

"Fine, I surrender." As she let herself get taken away by the ANBU, Tsume shunshined to Naruto, it was safe to do so now that the barrier was taken down. She found him talking with the Third Hokage, who was enjoying the fruits of Naruto's revivication – he was jumping up and down explaining how he could 'do so much more now'.

"Hahahaha! I see the Hokage is back on his feet. Are we ready to go Naruto?" Naruto nodded to her, the Hokage looked somewhat sad.

"Going? Where are you going? You two have absolutely obliterated the Suna and Oto armies, have killed Orochimaru, saved a Kage's life and saved the entire Leaf village – all in under half an hour. Please! We must celebrate! Stay a while!" he requested jovially. Naruto shook his head.

"We'll be back soon Gramps – I just have to fulfil a promise that I've been keeping for fifteen years." He pulled Tsume into a kiss and they shunshined off.

**Lemonage incoming!**

When they arrived in Naruto's apartment, they were in a passionate tongue war, the Tongues of Tsume against the United Front of Naruto's Tonsils. They were both moaning and lusting for each other; they could finally have each other and become one. Their hands ran all over each other before Naruto pushed away, knowing that if they didn't stop their kissing, they would _never_ have sex. He dissolved the chakra that was his clothes, Tsume did the same, they stood before each other now as husband and wife, wanting to leave as lovers. Naruto's eyes roamed Tsume's body, so that he could conjure up her image at a moment's notice. She had her flowing hair that covered half her face that had silver tips, going to the top of her generous DD-Cup boobs, which even after two kids were still high-up and not saggy. Going further down he could see her muscular abs, lower still was Pandora's Box itself: this one unleashing all the pleasure in Naruto's world rather than the evil, Tsume's hairless pussy.

Tsume drank in the sight that was Naruto's godly body; his jet-black spiked-back hair with silver streaks, his scarred face, muscular pec's, abs and finally his eight inch long, two inch wide penis. Naruto placed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her lightly.

"I've waited fifteen years for this – you'll be my first, last and only. And I want you to know, from before, now and hereafter; I will always love you, Tsume Inuzuka." Tsume kissed him back.

"I can't say that you'll be my first, but you will be my last. I love you to Naruto, in the past, present and future." Naruto placed his hands on her hips and guided her back towards his bed, never taking his eyes from hers. As she fell back onto the bed he leaned in and kissed her gently.

"You ready?" he asked in a passionate voice, his dick at her entrance.

"Yeah, let's do this Naruto." He plunged into her and they gasped, Tsume at the size and Naruto at the feeling.

"Woah! That's… amazing." Naruto stated. Tsume just gasped in reply. He speared into her again, earning a moan from Tsume. He got a rhythm established, and began fucking her again, this time with more speed and grace – they wanted their first time to be passionate, not just fucking with wild abandon; as their sex after this would probably _only_ consist, of fucking with wild abandon.

They both moaned as Naruto went deeper and brushed against the wall of Tsume's cervix and hit her g-spot, causing her to thrust back against him and sending Naruto into a whirl of pleasure.

"T-Tsume, I can't hold… on much longer." Sure they'd only been at it for five minutes; but it was his first time, cut him some slack. Tsume wrapped her legs around the small of his back and he pulled her close to him.

"Mph, mph, mph, oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh, Naruto, YES! YES! YES! Fuck me! I'm coming!" Naruto felt her pussy clamp down on his cock, making him reach breaking point.

"TSUME! I'M COMING!" as he was standing, he was bucking back and forth like crazy, before he finally orgasmed. Sure, he wanked as a kid, about since he was nine, and he had some _great_ orgasms, but this? This was GODLY.

He thrust into her one last time before he felt a massive pressure on his balls, and he painted her womb white with his cum.

"Aaahhhh! TSUME!"

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOO" they orgasmed together and she contracted on him again, milking him of all his seed and keeping it inside her. After that, his legs couldn't hold them any longer and they crashed onto his bed. Still hard in her, they stayed like that, in a lovers embrace. He leaned over and kissed her passionately and lustfully on her lips before drawing away.

"I like begin a man of my word, it definitely has its perks. But ahh Tsume? I came inside you, what if you get pregnant?" he asked worriedly. Tsume just stroked his cheek lovingly.

"If I get pregnant, then I get pregnant. We can just go to the Shinigami realm then come back, they won't even know the difference, well, we'll have a kid – they might notice that. But you'll make a great father when the day comes, Naruto." His fears were not entirely soothed, however.

"I hope so, but what about Kiba? And Hana too?" Tsume leant in and kissed him.

"What about them? They'll have a baby brother or sister, Hana will be over the moon; Kiba will probably punch you, but he'd be happy on the inside. But enough of that, while you did keep your promise; I am kind of sleepy, besides, we have only used it _once_, you said that we'd rock the casbah like it had never been rocked before…"

**Sorry about the crappy lemon, the next ones will have better content and will go more smoothly; and he WILL tame that wicked, wicked ass. So, that's a late chapter eleven down; I'm in Melbourne next week for work experience so I don't know how much I'll get written, so expect chapter 12 next weekend, or maybe the Tuesday or Wednesday of that week.**

**Chapter 12 – Akatsuki**

**What I'll do is make a semi-made up enemy (group) that can give Naruto a good fight; not just bitchslap and dead. PM me or comment on a better name for 'The Chessmaster', or maybe the 'Puppetmaster', something like that, where the head figure of the evil guys is really old (immortal maybe) and he manipulates people over time.**

**COME ON YOU IRONS!**

**Musical lyric for the week:**

**_"… I'd rather hate you, for everything you are. Than ever love you, for something that you are not. I'd rather you hate me, for everything I am. Than have you love me, for something that I'm not…" _**

- **Never enough, Five Finger Death Punch**


	14. 12 - Akatsuki

Naruto smiled dreamily as he withdrew himself from Tsume and her embrace, and headed towards the kitchen. The past four hours had been a tornado of wild lust, passion and love for the two of them as they finally consummated their marriage. He drank deeply from a glass of much needed water, the feeling of heat in his cheeks and his sleepiness slowly fading.

"Naruto Uzumaki, Tsume Inuzuka, your presence has been requested by the Hokage for an official speech, requested immediately." This was said by the ANBU who shunshined into Naruto's apartment, catching a full view of Naruto in his birthday suit, who quickly covered himself with his black chakra cloak (the article of clothing, not like a nine tails cloak) – at least it was something.

"What the hell! Couldn't you have knocked?!" His words fell on non-existent ears as the ANBU shunshined away, his message delivered. Naruto took a glass of water to a blissful Tsume on his bed; he softly nudged her and then began to dress himself.

"Tsume… wake up, we have things to do, c'mon." he spoke to her softly, not wanting to break the perfect picture that was his wife's peaceful frame, her naked body. She rolled over and smiled at him.

"Yes, we have things to do –each other, come back to bed." She patted the bed next to her seductively, but Naruto unwillfully resisted.

"Four hours wasn't enough? What am I saying – of course it wasn't! I'd love to spend eternity entwined with you; but we actually have things to do – the old man wants us." She groaned and lifted herself from his bed and began to stretch – that was some pretty strenuous exercise! Naruto went to the sink and splashed some water on his face before dressing himself, now on the hunt for Tsume's clothes.

Naruto turned to Tsume after they were both ready to face the rest of the day and hugged her lovingly.

"I love you Tsume, I always will – you know that, right?" she smiled at his words.

"Of course I do – I love you to Naruto, and there's nothing else that matters."

The revitalised Hokage sighed as he looked across the sea of faces that was assembled before him: the civilian council – who wanted Naruto dead, the Shinobi – who wanted to know how he and Tsume got together (they already respected the hell out of him), the captains of his ninja divisions – who stood straight with pride, but most distressingly was Ino Yamanaka who stood with Kiba and Hana, and Haku Momochi who stood with the Aburame clan; he had an idea why they were assembled as well, and he didn't like it.

Naruto and Tsume shunshined into the room, their shunshin was a well of shadows that they arose from (it was actually slower than a basic shunshin – but it looked sick as hell!).

"Now that we are all assembled here we can start, but before I begin – the civilian council has something to say?" they nodded to each other and an unwanted face appeared from the back of the room – Sasuke Uchiha. He strode pompously forwards with all the smugness and arrogance that an Uchiha could muster (an incredible amount) and bowed mockingly towards the Hokage.

"I am enacting the CRA on me." The Hokage and Naruto both sighed at this – knowing where he was going with this. Danzo leaned forwards, pretending to have no knowledge of the situation.

"That is entirely reasonable, who will be your wives?" Sasuke 'hnn'd' before speaking:

"I'll have… Ino Yamanaka, Haku Momochi – and Tsume Inuzuka!" _I'm going to fuck those sluts like there's no tomorrow; I'll have them moaning and screaming my name before I'm done with them!_ Haku had a stoic mask on her face – it would have happened sooner or later, she reasoned, while Ino began to cry silently. Tsume just folded her arms across her chest and smiled – _this was going to be good!_ Naruto sighed and materialised next to Sasuke, grabbed his broken left hand, smacked it onto the table and stabbed a tanto through it – earning a horrifying scream from Sasuke; Naruto didn't care and spoke in a reasonable manner.

"This is going to be problematic; Haku Momochi has had Shino _let_ his Kikaichu feast on her chakra, making them inseparable, no CRA for her; even moreso because she is a protectorate of the Inuzuka's. Ino Yamanaka has given Kiba a rose petal; due to ancient Yamanaka law this means that they are engaged to each other, making her invalid for the CRA." He then materialised on the right side of Sasuke, wrenched it onto the table and ran it through with a kunai – making the bones and tendons separate.

"And if you _ever_ come near my wife again, even so much as _look_ at her the wrong way…" while holding the kunai through his hand down, Naruto kneed Sasuke's elbow, breaking it.

"Even _breath_ a bad thing about her – and I will cut your balls off, fry them up and feed them to you." Sasuke was crying at the pain – he got the message alright. The civilian council was in an uproar at what had just transpired – them demon tried to kill Lord Sasuke! Naruto just stared them all down one by one.

"If you have a problem with what I just said; then speak the fuck up!" Naruto was livid, he knew that there was nothing Sasuke could do, but the fact that he would even _try_ to go near Tsume pissed him off. And one by one, all the council members sat down; Naruto let his gaze linger on Sakuno Haruno – he had to deal with her at one point – before finishing on Danzo, who lowered his eyes after a moment.

"Now that we've got that sorted – what's next?" Naruto asked the Hokage.

"Yes, sorted… we have a few announcements, reports and request to go through. First off, we need a summary of the invasion." Skikaku Shikamaru stepped forwards.

"We have sustained minimal Shinobi casualties, light to moderate structural damage, and no civilian casualties. We have come to understand that this was mainly to do with the efforts of Naruto Uzumaki and Tsume Inuzuka." Of course, everyone knew that it was _only_ because of Naruto and Tsume that the village was still standing – they had to say it like that as a formality though.

"This is good news indeed; a catastrophe was avoided due to the efforts of you two. What about the redheaded ninja that we captured?" Ibiki stepped forwards this time.

"She has been cooperating so far, after we showed her that Orochimaru was truly dead – she sang like a bird." The Hokage nodded and looked towards the captain of the ANBU;

"How were we infiltrated in the first place? And how did we miss the oncoming forces of the Sand and Sound?" he asked.

"It would appear that the ninja that Naruto killed –Kabuto – had access to classified materials, and knew how to bypass our security, this information was then most likely passed onto Orochimaru himself. He also had information about our watch changes, hence he bribed some of the guards to not report them until it was too late – by that time we were in mass confusion." The ANBU reported.

"Hhhhmmmmm… Ibiki, I'll have you collect the remnant enemy ninja around the village; it would be impossible all of them to get away. Now, Naruto and Tsume, we need to know what has been going on." The Hokage asked plainly, they looked to each other and nodded. They both removed their hoods, giving everyone in attendance a view of their faces.

"Well, where to begin? The Hokage, Ibiki, Anko, Kakashi, The Inuzuka's and a few others already know everything, but here's what happened…" Naruto then went into great detail about what had happened to him since he was five – leaving out that it was Itachi who trained him. Most in attendance grew pale when he said – purposefully – that he had released the nine tailed fox, but regained _some_ of their colouration when he fully explained that it was in the Shinigami realm. Danzo kept a straight face throughout the story, but on the inside he was going mad with thoughts of power: _imagine what I could accomplish with this boy under my control, all I need to do is place a seal on him… but how to do so – he is a very powerful enemy._ All reason went out of his mind though when Naruto explained how he was in the Shinigami realm for fifteen years, but in the mortal realm only fifteen _days_ passed. Naruto saw Danzo begin to fidget, as though something was bothering him – but in a good way? He decided to keep an eye on the old veteran.

"… Which brings us to the chunin exam finals, and you all know everything from then. Any questions?" they all shook their heads or stayed in place – it was heaps to take in in the course of a few minutes. The Hokage processed all of this new information as Naruto spoke it, which led to his announcement.

"Under the circumstances, even if we doubt Naruto's entire story, due to his strength and knowledge of death jutsu, both he and Tsume will be promoted to the rank of Jonin, rather than special jonin – which we agreed on one month ago."

**(AN: apologies if the last paragraph or two, and the next few bits don't make much sense or come together, my brains a little cofuddled and I'm trying to pull idea's out of my arse – but once this part is over I've got it under control; story ho!)**

The Shinobi nodded at the Hokage's reasoning, but the civilian council was severely against it – how could the senile old fool let the whore and demon brat become jonin! (I guess some things never change).

"SILENCE! THIS IS A SHINOBI DECISION! The civilian council has no part in this. Now, do we have any other business to attend to?" with varying degrees of emotion, they all shook their heads.

"Very well, someone take Sasuke to the hospital; this meeting is adjourned, you are all dismissed." Some civilian-controlled ANBU shunshined in and took Sasuke to the hospital. As everyone filtered out of the room, Naruto and Tsume were taken aside by the Yamanaka's and the Aburame's – Kiba was looking very pale.

"N-Naruto? Wha-what did you mean by _engaged_?" Shino walked up beside him.

"I am also puzzled: my Kikaichu feed on everyone's chakra – how are we engaged?" Naruto just laughed at them both and motioned for them to keep on walking. He looked behind him to see that they were far enough away from everyone else; so he began laughing again before finally explaining.

"I was wondering what your reactions would be! Hahahahaha! I kiiiind of made it up on the spot, I think both clans' old traditions also say that they can back out of the engagement at any time – that's if you want to go by my '**bullshit no jutsu**' at any rate." Inoichi shook his head and smiled, Ino hugged Kiba, who was slowly gaining colour again, Shino was impassive as ever, and Haku just hung off of his shoulder and smiled at him.

Naruto and Tsume were down a back alleyway kissing passionately when an ANBU shunshined to them.

"Aw come on! Can't we get a break?!" Naruto complained.

"… Naruto Uzumaki and Tsume Inuzuka, the Hokage has summoned you." Naruto could _swear_ that the ANBU was smiling behind his mask. He sighed and turned to Tsume.

"Sorry my Lady, but it appears that we have been interrupted – yet again. Come on." She sighed and nodded to him, they both shunshined to the Hokage's office.

"Oh-ho sweet Nanao, you naughty little girl – aahhhhhhhhh!" The Hokage fell from his chair when they suddenly appeared. He coughed and regained his seating.

"Uhhhhhhh yes, thank you for appearing so promptly. Come in! the reason I have brought you here, instead of addressing this in front of the council, is best explained by Jairaiya – get in here you perverted lout!" Jairaiya finally entered after trying to hit on his secretary.

"… So I'll meet you later for dinner right? Alright! Oh, yeah, what did you want Lord Hokage?" He asked, only half paying attention. The Hokage face palmed, then threw his _Icha Icha_ at Jairaiya's balls – he didn't see it to dodge.

"Get up off the ground!... good, I called you here so you could explain to these two about the Akatsuki, now!" Now, sannin or not, getting hit in the balls by a book hurts! So after a minute on the ground, he got up and breathed heavily, leaning on the table for support.

"Huh huh huh, right… aaaaahhhhhhhh, that hurts. Ahem *coughs*, the ow, Akatsuki are a group of elite S-ranked criminals, most of whom _I _would have extreme difficulty beating. They are after the nine-tailed fox , I repeat: they _are_ after the nine-tails – meaning they don't know that it's gone. This doesn't make it any easier for us however; even after they find out it's not sealed in your chest – and they _will_ find out – they will still come after you for the whereabouts; and your powers." Naruto wasn't scared, not even in the slightest – but he knew that they could attack his family and friends to get to him.

"I see… where are they located? Do they have a leader? Do you know of their long-term goals? What about current members?-" Naruto's torrent of questions was abruptly halted by Jairaiya, who put his hands up and interrupted him.

"Easy Naruto, we don't know anything about them – all we know is that they exist, and that they're after the fox." This put Naruto into a deep thought, so Tsume asked:

"So… why were we brought here? I mean, sure; there's a bunch of supreme evil-doers after us, but that's sure to happen sooner or later, so, is there any other reason we were brought here?" Naruto looked to Tsume and nodded, then shrugged his shoulders at the Hokage. The Hokage looked at them both, he held out his right hand and rubbed it against itself.

"Well, no…"

"In that case, we'll get out of your hair!" she grabbed Naruto and quickly shunshined them both back to his apartment. Air rushed past the Hokage as Jairaiya jumped out the window, rubbing his hands and mumbling about 'research'. The Hokage just sighed and picked up his _Icha Icha_.

"Some things never change, oh well."

Naruto broke away from Tsume's kiss, she sighed and spoke.

"You're worried about the Akatsuki, aren't you?" he nodded.

"Even with all of them, I doubt they could kill either of us, but im worried for Kiba, Hana and the village." She nodded sadly.

"I guess that there won't be a peaceful eternity for us, will there? So, are we going to hunt them down?"

"I guess we have no choice, how would we hunt them though?" He asked her, she replied with a laugh.

"I made a friend while I was downstairs, and I also found my second form; the knowledge that I gained when I found out – will help us immensely." He knew that if he asked he would get no answer, so he would just bide his time and let her show him.

"Very well – so are we going to the basement? Or can you contact him from the mortal realm?" She shook her head.

"Nope, we have to go to the Shinigami realm, but just a warning in advance: he's a little… _impulsive_, all of the time." He raised an eyebrow at her comment; all she did was grab his arm and drag them both down to the Shinigami realm.

The Shinigami was sitting cross-legged, creating a wonderful work of art that he had worked the last decade on – not much to him, but it would be an annoyance if he had to start again. He heard a familiar rumbling and laughing, sighed in annoyance and packed up his painting tools.

"…little shit! Get back here!" _another person, another prank._ The Shinigami thought to himself. Another peal of laughter rang out and the Shinigami saw the Hound running from an enraged soul, apparently the Hound had, well, eaten the man's cat. The hound shot past the Shinigami, the man stopping right in front of the Shinigami and dropped to his knees.

"Lord Shinigami, that boy has eaten my pet! You must do something about this!" he demanded, the Shinigami just sighed; _really? A two time murderer and three time rapist wants me to punish the Hound because he ate a cat? What is the realm coming to?_

"Soul, you do not command me, I can snap your being with the merest thought, Remus! Unmask yourself and explain." The small boy turned into a six foot seven tall black man with shoulder length shaggy hair that was jet black and had silver tips.

"Explain myself, Lord? All I did was, have a snack, there's nothing wrong with that, is there?" Remus asked, his voice laden with sarcasm and false hurt.

"Have a snack!? Haj-var was a 200 year old tiger! He was 6 foot long and 5 foot high!" Remus shrugged his shoulders in a fake apology and was going to continue, but was interrupted as two figures floated into reality from above; a man, and the only character that ever made him feel fear – Tsume.

"My Lord, I need to requisition the services of the Hound for a few days, and- oh, hello boy." The words sounded sweet enough, but Remus knew what they meant, and had to stop himself from shaking. He then saw that the man had his hand around her waist, and felt a slight spike of anger that anyone would get so familiar with his mistress **(AN: like female master, Tsume has stayed loyal to Naruto)** and so sauntered over and began to speak.

"So love, have you missed me?" in the blink of an eye, Naruto had appeared behind Remus and had a kunai held against Remus's throat – drawing a steady line of blood.

"Hah! You think you can hurt me? You're not strong enough, and _definitely _not fast enough!" Remus spoke the words with a familiar sense of arrogance, but Tsume laughed at him, the Shinigami even let out a deep chuckle.

"**You fool, do you not know who this is?" **the Shinigami laughed, Remus looked puzzled before Naruto spoke:

"Run" he whispered, and something in his voice _compelled_ Remus to move. He sprant with his fastest speed, which would put messenger Shinobi to shame; he looked back, expecting to see the arrogant ninja in the dust where he started running – but found him right behind him!

"I said _run_, what is this? I thought you were supposed to be fast?" Naruto asked, Remus was goaded by his challenge and jammed even more chakra into his legs and feet.

"Ha! Try and catch me now!" the wrong thing to say. Naruto's scythe slashed his right Achilles tendon, the rear of his left knee, and cut his left arm from his body.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! WHAT ARE YOU!?" his screams and wails brought a smile to Naruto's lips.

"Is something wrong?" he asked innocently. Remus clawed himself away from Naruto, only to have his remaining hand impaled on a long bladed tanto, Naruto crouched next to Remus' spasming body and rested his arms on his knees.

"Well, do you still think you are fast? And what's with your leg? It's flopping about like a marionette." He pointed to Remus' right leg which was flailing about on the ground, without his Achilles tendon to connect to his calf muscle the leg and foot were jumping around trying to reconnect. Remus' blood-curdling howls persisted.

"NO ONE CAN HURT ME! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU!? AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!" he screamed at Naruto. Naruto just sighed and raised himself back up; he turned his scythe into its javelin form and slowly sliced through Remus' from groin to brain – his scythe was that sharp that he didn't need to cut, only push.

Once Remus' life had fully faded from his body, Naruto stood back and placed his hands out wards towards Remus' corpse.

"**Shinigami Art: Space-Time Jutsu! Reverse!**" Remus' wounds sealed themselves back together, leaving no scar tissue at all, no trace that it ever happened, and after that 'drowning breath' Remus was brought back to life. He puffed and panted, then pointed shakily towards Naruto.

"W-What are you?" _Every time! Can't they ask something different, or how about 'thanks'? _Naruto mused to himself.

"I am Lord Death, your master, I am also the Judge of Death, do you acknowledge your place beneath me?" Naruto would have taken a more positive demeanour towards Remus, but he had a few problems with that: first was that he got _way_ too close to Tsume, second was his bland arrogance, and third was that similar situation had happened to all of the previous Judge's. The part of Remus that was the Hound let out a small whimper – he acknowledged that Naruto was his master, but begrudgingly.

"Yes, I do." Remus had mixed emotions about the situation, he was _no one's_ servant and as such felt great anger towards Naruto, but he conversely knew that he could very easily be killed again.

"So, you are the Hound." Naruto stated this with a fair amount of contempt in his voice, the Hound was too arrogant, and the only reason they needed him was to hunt down the Akatsuki, the sooner this was over, the better.

"My name is Remus, and I think I can speak for both of us when I say that the sooner this is over, the better. Why are you here? Or, what do you need me for?" Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder and shunshined them back to where they were.

"We are hunting an organization called 'Akatsuki' and its members; we are requisitioning your services in tracking them down." Naruto explained to them, the Hound closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"I have never heard of them before, do you know of any of its members?" Naruto shook his head.

"We were only informed of their existence about half hour ago; we know next-to-nothing about them."

"**Actually, you do know about one of them. The Harbinger is a member of the Akatsuki.**" The Shinigami said, Naruto was taken aback.

"Why would Itachi join an organisation that is hunting the nine-tails?"

"**Perhaps it was because he wanted to fight you again, this would provide legitimate grounds to do so, maybe he wanted to find you? Although, he knows that you haven't left Konoha.**" This put Naruto into a difficult position: he could easily track down the Akatsuki now, but what if there was a reason he joined them? Naruto couldn't let Itachi blow his cover – he would have to think on this.

"Thank you, my Lord. We will have to discuss this with the Hokage, but we won't be needing your assistance today Hound." Remus was incensed at how blasé Naruto was, but he had to keep his anger in check, he saw and felt with how much contemptuous ease Naruto laid him low. Naruto and Tsume nodded to the Shinigami and disappeared into the mortal realm; the Shinigami broke out his tools and was going to resume painting when he heard:

"Now what about my cat!?"

Tsume and Naruto rose out of the floorboards in the Inuzuka's house, Naruto turned to Tsume and asked:

"So what's up the Hound's arse?" he asked the question generally but she caught his real question.

"He has been the Hound for the past few centuries and believes that gives him the right to lord it over the other, lesser demons. Before I showed up, and barring the Shinigami, he always thought of himself as the alpha male, and when I showed up he had this pathetic crush on me, I tried letting him down gently – he didn't believe that I was married – and soon after he tried_ making_ me his bitch. Put it this way: he only has one potato to go with his sausage, rather than two." Naruto felt his body heating up rapidly and Tsume saw his reaction.

"Relax, he didn't rape me, he came up to me and began to fondle my boobs, that's as far as he got." This eased some of his tension, but not nearly all of it.

"The next time I see that little puke im going to-

"Do nothing. He knows not to go near me, and im surprised that he even tried what he did - it's my problem, so I'll sort it out. And, seeing as how no one else is home…" she led on, but Naruto didn't really feel like it, after hearing how someone tried to rape his wife.

"Maybe later, sorry. But in the meantime, we need to come up with a way of finding the Akatsuki without giving away Itachi – that is, if they don't know who he really it, what he really is."

Two tall figures wearing low straw hats and high-necked black cloaks with red clouds on them walked past two sleeping sentries on the outskirts of Konoha, one turned to the other and spoke.

"So how does it feel coming back to your home town? Considering you are an S-Ranked criminal."

"We won't be here long enough for anyone to find us. Locate the nine-tails; I have some business to attend to."

Hana was running with the dogs on the outskirts of the forests when she heard a voice that she had dreamt of night after night.

"Hello, Hana." She stopped in her tracks, eyes wide and turned.

"I-Itachi."

**Sorry about that, I just thought that you all deserved something to read, so I'll continue this chapter and have 13 posted sometime during the week or next weekend – my bad everyone!**

**Chapter 13 – Unlikely Reunion**

**Musical quote of the week:**

**_"…Drink my blood, as I drink yours. Impale me on the horns of death, cut off my head, release all my evil!..."_**

- **Bridge of Death, Manowar**


	15. xx - Rest In Peace

Your attention please, dear readers.

Im sorry to say that i cant really keep COTS going, i could, but it would be painful for he both of us. I can kind of see where we're at now, point A if you will, and i can see where i want to go, point B, but i just cant connect the two. Im going to cut Champion Of The Shinigami off here, i **may**continue writing it in the future, but that seems pretty rare, or few and far between for the updates. On a positive note, im going to start a new one, havent thought a name for it yet, but Naruto will use... an instrument! He'll still be in the Leaf village, but he'll somehow come across sound jutsu and whatnot, eventually he'll get with Tayuya and they'll be a epic duo, but i just want to point one th i kept ifing out - he wont be god-like in this one, not that i didn't enjoy writing it (trust me, i did hehehe), it's just that i would have had to create to many new enemies, or buff up the existing ones; 'cause you see, across all my fics, i plan/want them to have the basic storyline, and then skew the hell out of them, mutate them, ect, i DO NOT want to create my own storyline 0 some of you may be thinking: 'but Drakas, isn't that what you basically did for COTS?', no, although i added in some Trinity Blood and Bleach stuff, i kept the generic storyline, and for those who dont like that... well what the hell? its a fan fic, as in FICTION dhun dhun dahn! So yeah, i might add in a few chapters and COTS will be hurriedly finished by the end of the year, but the new one will have frquent updates - the holidays are coming up - 2 weeks off - back at school for for weeks - will be updting during school - exams then CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS! ne final thing, whoever can PM me first about what naruto's instrument is, will get to make up one part of the story (like you tel me, then i put it in) and don't think, well bummer... someone will have already PM'd me... guess ill go do smething else now - DONT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! im so lonely! ive had two PM's (thank you to thoe two) so yeah, eve if youdont guess it, PM me an idea or something, i wanna try and break down the meatphorical wall between author and reader, so yeah, just gives us a message. once more, sorry about COTS


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